Aphra Behn quotes
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“That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.2628, Delphi Classics
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“Each moment of a happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (1696). “The Younger Brother: Or, the Amorous Jilt. A Comedy ... Written by the Late Ingenious Mrs. A. Behn. With Some Account of Her Life. [Edited, with Alterations and a Memoir, by Charles Gildon.]”, p.30
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“Variety is the soul of pleasure.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : The Rover pt. 2, act 1 (1681) See Cowper 7
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“There is no sinner like a young saint.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2014). “Behn Five Plays”, p.119, Bloomsbury Publishing
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“Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : 1686 The Lover's Watch,'Four o'Clock. General Conversation'.
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“A poet is a painter in his way, he draws to the life, but in another kind; we draw the nobler part, the soul and the mind; the pictures of the pen shall outlast those of the pencil, and even worlds themselves.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2015). “Oroonoko: the Royal Slave: Souls Needed for You”, p.88, 谷月社
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“Nothing is more capable of troubling our reason, and consuming our health, than secret notions of jealousy in solitude.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2015). “Oroonoko: the Royal Slave: Souls Needed for You”, p.169, 谷月社
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“Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : 1678 The Rover, pt.2, act 3, sc.1.
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“Who is't that to woman's beauty would submit, And yet refuse the fetters of their wit?”
-- Aphra Behn -
“affectation hath always had a greater share both in the action and discourse of men than truth and judgment have ...”
-- Aphra Behn -
“time lessens all extremes and reduces 'em to mediums and unconcern ...”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (1871). “The Plays, Histories, and Novels of the Ingenious Mrs. Aphra Behn: With Life and Memoirs. Complete in Six Volumes...”, p.125
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“Love's a thin Diet, nor will keep out Cold.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (1871). “The Plays, Histories, and Novels of the Ingenious Mrs. Aphra Behn: With Life and Memoirs. Complete in Six Volumes...”, p.219
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“Kings that made laws, first broke 'em ...”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.2843, Delphi Classics
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“I think a Play the best divertisement that wise men have: but I do also think them nothing so who do discourse so formallie about the rules of it, as if 'twere the grand affair of humane life.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.273, Delphi Classics
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“... he that will live in this World, must be endu'd with the three rare Qualities of Dissimulation, Equivocation, and mental Reservation.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.1382, Delphi Classics
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“God makes all things good; Man meddles with 'em and they become evil.”
-- Aphra Behn -
“'Twas but a dream, yet by my heart I knew, Which still was panting, part of it was true: Oh how I strove the rest to have believed; Ashamed and angry to be undeceived!”
-- Aphra Behn -
“One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : "The Rover". Play by Aphra Behn, Part II, Act V, 1677.
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“As love is the most noble and divine passion of the soul, so is it that to which we may justly attribute all the real satisfactions of life, and without it, man is unfinished, and unhappy.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2009). “Oroonoko and Other Writings”, p.75, Oxford Paperbacks
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“Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality”
-- Aphra Behn -
“Love, like reputation, once fled, never returns more.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2015). “Oroonoko: the Royal Slave: Souls Needed for You”, p.215, 谷月社
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“Oh, what a dear ravishing thing is the beginning of an Amour!”
-- Aphra Behn -
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“Sure, I rose the wrong way today, I have had such damn'd ill luck every way.”
-- Aphra Behn -
“Faith, Sir, we are here today and gone tomorrow.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : 1686 The Lucky Chance, act 4.
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“Women in London are like the rich silks; they are out of fashion a great while before they wear out.”
-- Aphra Behn -
“Fantastic fortune thou deceitful light, That cheats the weary traveler by night, Though on a precipice each step you tread, I am resolved to follow where you lead.”
-- Aphra Behn -
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“Patience is a flatterer, sir, and an ass, sir.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.1065, Delphi Classics
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“A brave world, sir, full of religion, knavery, and change: we shall shortly see better days.”
-- Aphra Behn -
“Jealousy, the old worm that bites.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn, Jane Spencer (1998). “The Rover: The Feigned Courtesans ; The Lucky Chance ; The Emperor of the Moon”, p.233, Oxford University Press, USA
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“Of all that writ, he was the wisest bard, who spoke this mighty truth- He that knew all that ever learning writ, Knew only this-that he knew nothing yet.”
-- Aphra Behn -
“All I ask, is the privilege for my masculine part the poet in me.... If I must not, because of my sex, have this freedom... I lay down my quill and you shall hear no more of me.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2014). “Behn Five Plays”, p.11, Bloomsbury Publishing
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“Where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity.”
-- Aphra BehnSource : Aphra Behn (2015). “Oroonoko: the Royal Slave: Souls Needed for You”, p.91, 谷月社
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“No friend to Love like a long voyage at sea.”
-- Aphra Behn -
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