Quote#Art
Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of…
Quote byWilliam Congreve · 1670–1729
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Way of the World (1700), Act IV, scene ix.
English (original)
Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants, like a maker of pincushions; thou art in truth (metaphorically speaking) a speaker of shorthand.
— William Congreve
More from William Congreve
Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.
Pious Selinda goes to Pray’rs, If I but ask the Favour; And yet the tender Fool’s in Tears, When she believes I’ll leave her.Wou’d I were free from Restraint, Or else had Hopes to win her; Wou’d she cou’d make of me a Saint,
Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, And black despair succeeds brown study.
Ah! Whither, whither shall I fly, A poor unhappy Maid; To hopeless Love and Misery By my own Heart betray’d?
Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem unaffected.
In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.