John Gay: Quotes about men

John Gay was English poet and playwright. Explore interesting quotes on men.
John Gay: 112 quotes0 likes

“Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view.”

John Gay

Fable, The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody
Fables (1727)

“Sure men were born to lie, and women to believe them!”

John Gay

Lucy, Act II, sc. xiii
The Beggar's Opera (1728)

“So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,—
The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.”

John Gay

The What d' ye call it (1715). Comparable to: "The time of paying a shot in a tavern among good fellows, or Pantagruelists, is still called in France a 'quart d'heure de Rabelais,'—that is, Rabelais's quarter of an hour, when a man is uneasy or melancholy", Life of Rabelais (Bohn's edition), p. 13

“O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed,
By keeping men off, you keep them on.”

John Gay

Act I, sc. viii, air 9
The Beggar's Opera (1728)

“A Wolf eats sheep but now and then;
Ten thousands are devour'd by men.
An open foe may prove a curse,
but a pretend friend is worse.”

John Gay

Fable XVII, "The Shepherd's Dog and the Wolf"
Fables (1727)