Quotes from work
The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play The Merchant of Yonkers.

“Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.”

Dolly Levi, in Act 4 http://books.google.com/books?id=MAEJ8VP0rMYC&q=%22Money+is+like+manure+it's+not+worth+a+thing+unless+it's+spread+around+encouraging+young+things+to+grow%22&pg=PA110#v=onepage <br class="br">Source: The Matchmaker (1954)

“Being employed is like being loved: you know that somebody's thinking about you the whole time.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

Source: The Matchmaker

“Never support two weaknesses at the same time. It's your combination sinners — your lecherous liars and your miserly drunkards — who dishonor the vices and bring them into bad repute.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

Malachi, in Act 3
The Matchmaker (1954)

“Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker (1954)

“Nurse one vice in your bosom. Give it the attention it deserves and let your virtues spring up modestly around it. Then you'll have the miser who's no liar; and the drunkard who's the benefactor of the whole city.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

Malachi, in Act 3
The Matchmaker (1954)

“The difference between a little money and no money at all is enormous…and the difference between a little money and an enormous amount of money is very slight.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker (1954)

“The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, "Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home." And the sign that something's wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

Barnaby, in Act 4
The Matchmaker (1954)

“Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.”

Thornton Wilder The Matchmaker

Vandergelder, in Act 1
The Matchmaker (1954)

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