Richard Brinsley Sheridan Quotations | Page 2

As there are three of us come on purpose for the game, you won't be so cantankerous as to spoil the party by sitting out.

Here is the whole set! a character dead at every word.

I leave my character behind me.

An apothecary should never be out of spirits.

There 's nothing like being used to a thing.

Date not the life which thou hast run by the mean of reckoning of the hours and days, which though hast breathed: a life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line, — by deeds, not years...

A practitioner in panegyric, or, to speak more plainly, a professor of the art of puffing.

Many a wretch has rid on a hurdle who has done less mischief than utterers of forged tales, coiners of scandal, and clippers of reputation.

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two!

When of a gossiping circle it was asked, "What are they doing?" The answer was, "Swapping lies.

A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.

Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete: damns have had their day.

Our memories are independent of our wills.

Had I a heart for falsehood framed, I ne'er could injure you.

Humanity is composed but of two categories, the invalids and the nurses

An oyster may be crossed in love.

Here 's to the maiden of bashful fifteen; Here 's to the widow of fifty; Here 's to the flaunting, extravagant queen, And here 's to the housewife that 's thrifty! Let the toast pass; Drink to the lass; I 'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.

Sheer necessity,-the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.

Good reading makes for damn hard writing.

Through all the drama - whether damned or not -Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.

A bumper of good liquor Will end a contest quicker Than justice, judge or vicar.

A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.

There's only one truth about war: people die.

Justice-august and pure, the abstract idea of all that would be perfect in the spirits and the inspirations of men!-where the mind rises; where the heart expands; where the countenance is ever placid and benign; where her favorite attitude is to stoop to the unfortunate; to hear their cry and to help them; to rescue and relieve; to succor and save; majestic, from its mercy; venerable, from its Lutility; uplifted, without pride; firm without obduracy; beneficent in each preference; lovely, though in her frown!

Prudence, like experience, must be paid for.

Never say more than is necessary.

The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.

Women govern us; let us render them perfect: the more they are enlightened, so much the more shall we be. On the cultivation of the mind of women depends the wisdom of men. It is by women that nature writes on the hearts of men.