Top 72 Quotes & Sayings by Philip Massinger

He that would govern others, first should be Master of himself.

Malice scorned, puts out itself; but argued, give a kind of credit to a false accusation.

He is not valiant that dares die, but he that boldly bears calamity.

Death hath a thousand doors to let out life: I shall find one.

True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

To doubt is worse than to have lost; and to despair is but to antedate those miseries that must fall on us.

Patience, the beggar's virtue, shall find no harbor here.

Be wise; soar not too high to fall; but stoop to rise.

I had not to this time subsisted, but that I was supported by your frequent courtesies and favours.

Let us love temperately, things violent last not.

Ambition, in a private man is a vice, is in a prince the virtue.

Virgin me no virgins! I must have you lose that name, or you lose me.

He that knows no guilt can know no fear.

I in my own house am an emperor, And will defend what's mine.

You may boldly say, you did not plough Or trust the barren and ungrateful sands With the fruitful grain of your religious counsels.

It is true fortitude to stand firm against All shocks of fate, when cowards faint and die In fear to suffer more calamity.

Such as ne'er saw swans May think crows beautiful.

Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.

Virtue, thou in rags, may challenge more than vice set off with all the trim of greatness.

They are only safe That know to soothe the prince's appetite, And serve his lusts.

And, to all married men, be this a caution, Which they should duly tender as their life, Neither to doat too much, nor doubt a wife.

Shall this nectar Run useless, then, to waste? or ... these lips, That open like the morn, breathing perfumes, On such as dare approach them, be untouch'd? They must--nay, 'tis in vain to make resistance-- Be often kissed and tasted.

Conscience and wealth are not always neighbors.

What a seaOf melting ice I walk on!

Nay, droop not, fellows; innocence should be bold.

Great men, Till they have gained their ends, are giants in Their promises, but, those obtained, weak pigmies In their performance. And it is a maxim Allowed among them, so they may deceive, They may swear anything; for the queen of love, As they hold constantly, does never punish, But smile, at lovers' perjuries.

The good needs fear no law, It is his safety and the bad man's awe.

The sum of all that makes a just man happy Consists in the well choosing of his wife: And there, well to discharge it, does require Equality of years, of birth, of fortune; For beauty being poor, and not cried up By birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither. And wealth, when there's such difference in years, And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy.

Cheerful looks make every dish a feast, and it is that which crowns a welcome.

Gold--the picklock that never fails.

A diamond, though set in horns, is still a diamond, and sparkles in purest gold.

Man was mark'd A friend in his creation to himself, And may, with fit ambition, conceive The greatest blessings, and the highest honors Appointed for him, if he can achieve them The right and noble way.

For any man to match above his rank is but to sell his liberty.

He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.

What pity 'tis, one that can speak so well, Should in his actions be so ill!

The soul is strong that trusts in goodness.

One grain of incense with devotion offer'd 'S beyond all perfumes of Sabaean spices.

Like a rough orator, that brings more truth Than rhetoric, to make good his accusation.

From the king To the beggar, by gradation, all are servants; And you must grant, the slavery is less To study to please one, than many.

Honour is Virtue's allowed ascent: honour that clasps All perfect justice in her arms; that craves No more respect than that she gives; that does Nothing but what she'll suffer.

As the index tells us the contents of stories and directs to the particular chapter, even so does the outward habit and superficial order of garments (in man or woman) give us a taste of the spirit, and demonstratively point (as it were a manual note from the margin) all the internal quality of the soul; and there cannot be a more evident, palpable, gross manifestation of poor, degenerate, dunghilly blood and breeding than a rude, unpolished, disordered, and slovenly outside.

Revenge, that thirsty dropsy of our souls, makes us covet that which hurts us most.

This is the Jew that Shakespeare drew.

Before We end our pilgrimage, 'tis fit that we Should leave corruption, and foul sin, behind us, But with wash'd feet and hands, the heathens dar' not Enter their profane temples; and for me To hope my passage to eternity Can be made easy, till I have shook off The burthen of my sins in free confession, Aided with sorrow, and repentance for them, Is against reason.

Oh that thou hadst like others been all words, And no performance.

Tis the only discipline we are born for; all studies else are but as circular lines, and death the center where they all must meet.

Ill news are swallow-winged, but what is good walks on crutches.

We have not an hour of life in which our pleasures relish not some pain, our sours, some sweetness.

The over curious are not over wise.

Thou art figured blind, and yet we borrow our best sight from thee.

He is not valiant that dares lie; but he that boldly bears calamity.

0 summer friendship, whose flat-tering leaves shadowed us in our prosperity, With the least gust, drop off in the autumn of adversity.

Though the desire of fame be the last weakness Wise men put off.

My dancing days are past.

Nor custom, nor example, nor cast numbers Of such as do offend, make less the sin.

A willing mind makes a hard journey easy.

But married once, a man is stak'd or pown'd, and cannot graze beyond his own hedge.

How sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman! It is so seldom heard that, when it speaks,it ravishes all senses.

Without good company all dainties Lose their true relish, and like painted grapes, Are only seen, not tasted.