Philip Massinger Quotes

48 Sourced Quotes

What a bridge
Of glass I walk upon, over a river
Of certain ruin! Mine own weighty fears
Cracking what should support me:—And those helps,
Which confidence yields to others, are from me
Ravish'd by doubts, and wilful jealousy.

Philip Massinger
Virtue, if not in action, is a vice,
And, when we move not forward, we go backward.

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

Philip Massinger
Some undone widow sits upon mine arm,
And takes away the use of it; and my sword,
Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphans' tears,
Will not be drawn.

Philip Massinger
But in our Sanazarro 'tis not so,
He being pure and tried gold; and any stamp
Of grace, to make him current to the world,
The duke is pleased to give him, will add honour
To the great bestower; for he, though allow'd
Companion to his master, still preserves
His majesty in full lustre.

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

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

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

Philip Massinger
Out, you impostors!
Quack-salving, cheating mountebanks! Your skill
Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill.

Philip Massinger
Ambition, in a private man a vice,
Is in a prince the virtue.

Philip Massinger
Pray enter
You are learned Europeans and we worse
Than ignorant Americans.

Philip Massinger
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.

Philip Massinger
Pleasures of worse natures Are gladly entertained, and they that shun us Practice in private sports the stews would blush at.

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

Philip Massinger
He
That kills himself to avoid misery, fears it,
And, at the best, shows but a bastard valour.
This life's a fort committed to my trust,
Which I must not yield up till it be forc'd.
—Nor will I. He's not valiant that dares die,
But he that boldly bears calamity.

Philip Massinger
To doubt
Is worse than to have lost; and to despair
Is but to antedate those miseries
That must fall on us.

Philip Massinger
The oath in any way or form you please,
I stand resolv'd to take it.

Philip Massinger
Quiet night that brings
Rest to the labourer, is the outlaw's day,
In which he rises early to do wrong,
And when his work is ended, dares not sleep.

Philip Massinger
Greatness, with private men
Esteemed a blessing, is to me a curse;
And we, whom, for our high births, they conclude
The only freemen, are the only slaves.
Happy the golden mean!

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

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

Philip Massinger
What can innocence hope for, When such as sit her judges are corrupted!

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

Philip Massinger