Quotes from John Webster

Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness.

When a man's mind rides faster than his horse can gallop they quickly both tire.

Man may his fate foresee, but not prevent. 'Tis better to be fortunate than wise.

Let guilty men remember, their black deeds Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds.

All things do help the unhappy man to fall.

Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue.

Gold that buys health can never be ill spent, Nor hours laid out in harmless merriment.

Were there no heaven nor hell I should be honest.

Knowledge Is Power! Train smart and obtain power!

In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air.

See, the curse of children! In life they keep us frequently in tears, And in the cold grave leave us in pale fears.

Though lust do masque in ne'er so strange disguise she's oft found witty, but is never wise.

Vain the ambition of kings Who seek by trophies and dead things To leave a living name behind, And weave but nets to catch the wind.

Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lustLike diamonds we are cut with our own dust

Other sins only speak; murder shrieks out.

Ferdinand: Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young.Bosola: I think not so; her infelicitySeemed to have years too many.

Lay this unto your breast: Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.

We are merely the stars' tennis-balls, struck and banded Which way please them.

Prosperity doth bewitch men, seeming clear;But seas do laugh, show white, when rocks are near.

Death hath ten thousand several doors For men to take their exits.

But keep the wolf far thence, that's foe to men,For with his nails he'll dig them up again.

Call for the robin redbreast and the wren,Since o'er shady groves they hover,And with leaves and flowers do coverThe friendless bodies of unburied men.

For the subtlest folly proceeds from the subtlest wisdom.

Heaven-gates are not so highly arch'dAs princes' palaces; they that enter thereMust go upon their knees.