Quote#Poetry
If Poverty be a Title to Poetry, I am sure nobody can dispute mine. I…
Quote byJohn Gay · 1685–1732
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Beggar's Opera (1728), "Beggar", Introduction.
English (original)
If Poverty be a Title to Poetry, I am sure nobody can dispute mine. I own myself of the Company of Beggars; and I make one at their Weekly Festivals at St. Giles's. I have a small Yearly Salary for my Catches, and am welcome to a Dinner there whenever I please, which is more than most Poets can say.
— John Gay
More from John Gay
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.
'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.
Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.
So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.