Quote #5

Whence thy learning? Hath thy toil O'er books consumed the midnight oil?

More from John Gay

  1. Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.
  2. Where yet was ever found a mother Who'd give her booby for another?
  3. No retreat. No retreat. They must conquer or die who've no retreat.
  4. When we risk no contradiction, It prompts the tongue to deal in fiction.
  5. 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.
  6. In beauty faults conspicuous grow; The smallest speck is seen on snow.
  7. 'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.
  8. In every age and clime we see Two of a trade can never agree.

All John Gay quotes