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Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  Beaumont and Flether John Bartlett

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Beaumont and Flether John Bartlett

 
1
    All your better deeds
Shall be in water writ, but this in marble. 1
          Philaster. Act v. Sc. 3.
2
    Upon my burned body lie lightly, gentle earth.
          The Maid’s Tragedy. Act i. Sc. 2.
3
    A soul as white as heaven.
          The Maid’s Tragedy. Act iv. Sc. 1.
4
    But they that are above
Have ends in everything. 2
          The Maid’s Tragedy. Act v. Sc. 1.
5
    It shew’d discretion, the best part of valour. 3
          A King and No King. Act iv. Sc. 3.
6
    There is a method in man’s wickedness,—
It grows up by degrees. 4
          A King and No King. Act v. Sc. 4.
7
    As cold as cucumbers.
          Cupid’s Revenge. Act i. Sc. 1.
8
    Calamity is man’s true touchstone. 5
          Four Plays in One: The Triumph of Honour. Sc. 1.
9
    Kiss till the cow comes home.
          Scornful Lady. Act iii. Sc. 1.
10
    It would talk,—
Lord! how it talked! 6
          Scornful Lady. Act v. Sc. 1.
  
  
  
11
    Beggars must be no choosers. 7
          Scornful Lady. Act v. Sc. 3.
12
    No better than you should be. 8
          The Coxcomb. Act iv. Sc. 3.
13
    From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. 9
          The Honest Man’s Fortune. Act ii. Sc. 2.
14
    One foot in the grave. 10
          The Little French Lawyer. Act i. Sc. 1.
15
    Go to grass.
          The Little French Lawyer. Act iv. Sc. 7.
16
    There is no jesting with edge tools. 11
          The Little French Lawyer. Act iv. Sc. 7.
17
    Though I say it that should not say it.
          Wit at Several Weapons. Act ii. Sc. 2.
18
    I name no parties. 12
          Wit at Several Weapons. Act ii. Sc. 3.
19
    Whistle, and she ’ll come to you. 13
          Wit Without Money. Act iv. Sc. 4.
20
    Let the world slide. 14
          Wit Without Money. Act v. Sc. 2.
21
    The fit ’s upon me now!
Come quickly, gentle lady;
The fit ’s upon me now.
          Wit Without Money. Act v. Sc. 4.
22
    He comes not in my books. 15
          The Widow. Act i. Sc. 1.
23
    Death hath so many doors to let out life. 16
          The Customs of the Country. Act ii. Sc. 2.
24
    Of all the paths [that] lead to a woman’s love
Pity ’s the straightest. 17
          The Knight of Malta. Act i. Sc. 1.
25
    Nothing can cover his high fame but heaven;
No pyramids set off his memories,
But the eternal substance of his greatness,—
To which I leave him.
          The False One. Act ii. Sc. 1.
26
    Thou wilt scarce be a man before thy mother. 18
          Love’s Cure. Act ii. Sc. 2.
27
    What ’s one man’s poison, signor,
Is another’s meat or drink. 19
          Love’s Cure. Act iii. Sc. 2.
28
    Primrose, first-born child of Ver,
Merry springtime’s harbinger.
          The Two Noble Kinsmen. Act i. Sc. 1.
29
    O great corrector of enormous times,
Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand decider
Of dusty and old titles, that healest with blood
The earth when it is sick, and curest the world
O’ the pleurisy of people!
          The Two Noble Kinsmen. Act v. Sc. 1.
 
Note 1.
See Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Quotation 27. [back]
Note 2.
See Shakespeare, Hamlet, Quotation 221. [back]
Note 3.
See Shakespeare, King Henry IV. Part I, Quotation 71. [back]
Note 4.
Nemo repente fuit turpissimus (No man ever became extremely wicked all at once).—Juvenal: ii. 83.

Ainsi que la vertu, le crime a ses degrés (As virtue has its degrees, so has vice).—Racine: Phédre, act iv. sc. 2. [back]
Note 5.
Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros (Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men).—Seneca: De Providentia, v. 9. [back]
Note 6.
Then he will talk—good gods! how he will talk!—LEE: Alexander the Great, act i. sc. 3. [back]
Note 7.
See Heywood, Quotation 59. [back]
Note 8.
She is no better than she should be.—Henry Fielding: The Temple Beau, act iv. sc. 3. [back]
Note 9.
See Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Quotation 21. [back]
Note 10.
An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.—Plutarch: On the Training of Children. [back]
Note 11.
It is no jesting with edge tools.—The True Tragedy of Richard III. (1594.) [back]
Note 12.
The use of “party” in the sense of “person” occurs in the Book of Common Prayer, More’s “Utopia,” Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Fuller, and other old English writers. [back]
Note 13.
Whistle, and I ’ll come to ye.—Robert Burns: Whistle, etc. [back]
Note 14.
See Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Quotation 2. [back]
Note 15.
See Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Quotation 6. [back]
Note 16.
See Webster, Quotation 1. [back]
Note 17.
Pity’s akin to love.—Thomas Southerne: Oroonoka, act ii. sc. 1.

Pity swells the tide of love.—Edward Young: Night Thoughts, night iii, line 107. [back]
Note 18.
But strive still to be a man before your mother.—William Cowper: Connoisseur. Motto of No. iii. [back]
Note 19.
Quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum (What is food to one may be fierce poison to others).—Lucretius: iv. 637. [back]