Philip Massinger

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

Philip Massinger (158317 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor are noted for their satire, realism, and political and social themes.

Quotes[edit]

  • Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.
    • A Very Woman (1619), Act v. Sc. 4. Compare: "Death hath so many doors to let out life", Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country, act ii. sc. 2; "The thousand doors that lead to death", Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, part i, sect. xliv
  • Virtue, if not in action, is a vice,
    And, when we move not forward, we go backward.
  • What a sea
    Of melting ice I walk on!
    • The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act III, scene iii
  • 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.
    • The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act IV, scene iii
  • Out, you impostors!
    Quack-salving, cheating mountebanks! Your skill
    Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill.
  • To doubt
    Is worse than to have lost; and to despair
    Is but to antedate those miseries
    That must fall on us.
    • Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii
  • The oath in any way or form you please,
    I stand resolv'd to take it.
    • Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii
  • 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.
    • The Bondman (1623), Act IV, scene iii
  • 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.
    • A New Way to pay Old Debts (1625), Act v. Sc. 1. Compare: "From thousands of our undone widows / One may derive some wit", Thomas Middleton, A Trick to catch the Old One (1605), Act i, Scene 2
  • Cause me no causes.
    • A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625), act i. sc. 3. See X me no X's
  • This many-headed monster,
    The giddy multitude.
    • The Roman Actor (1626), Act iii. Sc. 2. Compare: "Many-headed multitude", Sir Philip Sidney, Defence of Poesy, Book ii; "Many-headed multitude", William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act ii, scene 3; "This many-headed monster, Multitude", Daniel, History of the Civil War, book ii, st. 13
  • Grim death.
    • The Roman Actor (1626), Act iv. Sc. 2. Compare: "Grim death, my son and foe", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book ii, line 804
  • 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.
    • Great Duke of Florence (1627), Act I, scene 1
  • Like a rough orator, that brings more truth
    Than rhetoric, to make good his accusation.
    • Great Duke of Florence (1627)
  • 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.

External links[edit]

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