“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

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 22, 2020. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more." by John Gay?
John Gay photo
John Gay56
English poet and playwright 1685–1732

Related quotes

Bernard Cornwell photo

“He wondered again, for the hundredth hundredth time, why these men, reckoned by their country to be the dregs of society, fought so well, so willingly, so bravely.”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Leroy, p. 265
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)

André Maurois photo

“There are very few men who do not reckon the cost to themselves of a system of taxes before approving it.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Friendship

François Fénelon photo

“Whoever is capable of lying, is unworthy of being reckoned in the number of men; and whoever knows not to be silent, is unworthy of ruling.”

François Fénelon (1651–1715) Catholic bishop

Quiconque est capable de mentir est indigne d'être compté au nombre des hommes; et quiconque ne sait pas se taire est indigne de gouverner.
Bk. 3, p. 14; translation pp. 34-5.
Les aventures de Télémaque (1699)

Sandie Shaw photo

“No one smiled at me, or looked at me twice; shopping has become my time of reckoning; I will never be able to purchase the stardom I have lost.”

Sandie Shaw (1947) English pop singer

https://loveexpands.com/quotes/sandie-shaw-1171917/

James Hudson Taylor photo

“All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary in China

(Hudson Taylor’s Choice Sayings: A Compilation from His Writings and Addresses. London: China Inland Mission, n.d., 29).
Variant: All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.

Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“Suffering is not enough. Life is both dreadful and wonderful… How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural--you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Alexandre Dumas photo

“Eh, gentlemen, let us reckon upon accidents! Life is a chaplet of little miseries which the philosopher counts with a smile. Be philosophers, as I am, gentlemen; sit down at the table and let us drink. Nothing makes the future look so bright as surveying it through a glass of chambertin.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Three Musketeers

Athos, Ch. 48: A Family Affair.
The Three Musketeers (1844)

Christopher Marlowe photo

“A pleasant-smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
A brow for love to banquet royally.”

Christopher Marlowe book Hero and Leander

First Sestiad
Hero and Leander (published 1598)

Hippocrates photo

“Whatever, in connection with my professional practice, or not in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret.”

Hippocrates (-460–-370 BC) ancient Greek physician

Oath of Hippocrates (c. 400 BC)

“Men in general are very slow to enter into what is reckoned a new thing; and there seems to be a very universal as well as great reluctance to undergo the drudgery of acquiring information that seems not to be absolutely necessary.”

William Playfair (1758–1824) British mathematician, engineer and political economist

Observations on the Trade with North america, Chart V, page 29.
The Commercial and Political Atlas, 3rd Edition

Related topics