Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

26 John Webster Quotes On Life, Ambition, Wisdom And Friendship

Famous As: Playwright, Poet, Writer, Poet lawyer
Born On: 1578 AD
Died On: 1634 AD
Born In: London, United Kingdom
Died At Age: 56
John Webster was an illustrious English Jacobean dramatist, distinguished for his tragedies ‘The Duchess Of Malfi’ and ‘The White Devil’. His thoughts, works and dramas are considered to be the paragons of the early 17th century. It is known that he was also capable of writing comedies, but he gained recognition for writing tragedies. His career and life overlapped that of William Shakespeare. Though his dramas and plays were repudiated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they came to be considered as ingenious work by the twentieth century critics. We have rounded some popular quotable quotes and sayings by John Webster which have been curated from his works, plays, dramas, thoughts and life. Zoom through the quotes and thoughts by John Webster.
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Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust
Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust

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

John Webster
Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle. She died young.

Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle. She died young.

John Webster
I account this world a tedious theater,
For I do play a part in 't 'gainst my will.

I account this world a tedious theater, For I do play a part in 't 'gainst my will.

John Webster
The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes with the sword of justice.

The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes with the sword of justice.

John Webster
The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action... the soul was never put into the body to stand still.

The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action... the soul was never put into the body to stand still.

John Webster
What a strange creature is a laughing fool,
As if a man were created to no use
But only to show his teeth.

What a strange creature is a laughing fool, As if a man were created to no use But only to show his teeth.

John Webster
Do you not weep? 
Other sins only speak, murder shreaks out:
The element of water moistens the earth,
But blood flies upwards and bedews the heavens.

Do you not weep? Other sins only speak, murder shreaks out: The element of water moistens the earth, But blood flies upwards and bedews the heavens.

John Webster
Heaven-gates are not so highly arched 
As princes' palaces; they that enter there 
Must go upon their knees.

Heaven-gates are not so highly arched As princes' palaces; they that enter there Must go upon their knees.

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

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

John Webster
I am Duchess of Malfi still.

I am Duchess of Malfi still.

John Webster
Oft gay and honoured robes those tortures try: 
We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

Oft gay and honoured robes those tortures try: We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

John Webster
Are you out of your princely wits?

Are you out of your princely wits?" What's he? Let me have his beard sawed off and his eyebrows filed more civil!

John Webster
Integrity of life is fame's best friend,
Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

Integrity of life is fame's best friend, Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

John Webster
What! because we are poor Shall we be vicious?

What! because we are poor Shall we be vicious?

John Webster
Eagles commonly fly alone. They are crows, daws, and starlings that flock together.

Eagles commonly fly alone. They are crows, daws, and starlings that flock together.

John Webster
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 drowned himself in’t.

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 drowned himself in’t.

John Webster
Think't the best voyage that e'er you made like an irregular crab which, though’t goes backward, thinks that it goes right, because it goes its own way.

Think't the best voyage that e'er you made like an irregular crab which, though’t goes backward, thinks that it goes right, because it goes its own way.

John Webster
Pull and pull strongly for your able strength / Must pull down heaven upon me

Pull and pull strongly for your able strength / Must pull down heaven upon me

John Webster
We had need to borrow that fantastic glass,invented by Galileo the Florentine
To view another spacious world in the moon 
and look to find a constant woman there

We had need to borrow that fantastic glass,invented by Galileo the Florentine To view another spacious world in the moon and look to find a constant woman there

John Webster
If all my royal kindred 
Lay in my way unto this marriage,
I'ld make them my low foot-steps

If all my royal kindred Lay in my way unto this marriage, I'ld make them my low foot-steps

John Webster
I know death hath ten thousand several doors
For men to take their exits; and 'tis found
They go on such strange geometrical hinges,
You may open them both ways: any way, for heaven-sake

I know death hath ten thousand several doors For men to take their exits; and 'tis found They go on such strange geometrical hinges, You may open them both ways: any way, for heaven-sake

John Webster
When I go to hell, I mean to carry a bribe: for look you, good gifts evermore make way for the worst persons.

When I go to hell, I mean to carry a bribe: for look you, good gifts evermore make way for the worst persons.

John Webster
Black-birds fatten best in hard weather

Black-birds fatten best in hard weather

John Webster
As in this world there are degrees of evils, 
So in this world there are degrees of devils.

As in this world there are degrees of evils, So in this world there are degrees of devils.

John Webster
We endure the strokes like anvils or hard steel,
Till pain itself make us no pain to feel.

We endure the strokes like anvils or hard steel, Till pain itself make us no pain to feel.

John Webster
Through darkness diamonds spread their richest light.

Through darkness diamonds spread their richest light.

John Webster