Quote#Nature
'T is just like a summer bird-cage in a garden,—the birds that are…
Quote byJohn Webster · 1578–1634
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The White Devil (1612), Act I, scene ii. Compare: "To public feasts, where meet a public rout,— Where they that are without would fain go in, And they that are within would fain go out", John Davies, Contention betwixt a Wife, etc..
English (original)
'T is just like a summer bird-cage in a garden,—the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair and are in a consumption for fear they shall never get out.
— John Webster
More from John Webster
Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright, But look'd too near have neither heat nor light.
Condemn you me for that the duke did love me? So may you blame some fair and crystal river For that some melancholic, distracted man Hath drown'd himself in 't.
I saw him going the way of all flesh.
Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins toothsomest, old wood burn brightest, old linen wash whitest? Old soldiers, sweethearts, are surest, and old lovers are soundest.
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.
Call for the robin redbreast and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, And with leaves and flowers do cover The friendless bodies of unburied men.