Richard Brinsley Sheridan Quotes

He is the very pineapple of politeness.

A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.

When of a gossiping circle it was asked, "What are they doing?" The answer was, "Swapping lies.

An aspersion upon my parts of speech!

Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.

A bumper of good liquor Will end a contest quicker Than justice, judge or vicar.

An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinheriting countenance!

Fertilizer does no good in a heap, but a little spread around works miracles all over.

Never say more than is necessary.

She's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.

The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.

Easy writing's curst hard reading.

Do thou snatch treasures from my lips, and I'll take kingdoms back from thine.

An apothecary should never be out of spirits.

There's only one truth about war: people die.

Mr. Speaker. I said the honorable member was a liar it is true and I am sorry for it. The honorable member may place the punctuation where he pleases.

I ne'er could any lustre see In eyes that would not look on me; I ne'er saw nectar on a lip But where my own did hope to sip.

For in religion as in friendship, they who profess most are ever the least sincere.

When delicate and feeling souls are separated, there is not a feature in the sky, not a movement of the elements, not an aspiration of the breeze, but hints some cause for a lover's apprehension.

A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.

There's no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature - the malice of a good thing is the barb that makes it stick.

A wise woman will always let her husband have her way.

Death's a debt; his mandamus binds all alike- no bail, no demurrer.

The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed.

I'm called away by particular business - but I leave my character behind me

An oyster may be crossed in love.

Modesty is a quality in a lover more praised by the women than liked.

I would by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning.

It is by women that nature writes on the hearts of men.

The heart that is conscious of its own integrity is ever slow to credit another´s treachery.

Happiness is an exotic of celestial birth.

I leave my character behind me.

There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.

You write with ease, to show your breeding, But easy writing's vile hard reading.

Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics.

Those that vow the most are the least sincere.

Through all the drama - whether damned or not - Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.

Nothing keeps me in such awe as perfect beauty; now, there is something consoling and encouraging in ugliness.

The Right Honourable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.

Pity those whom nature abuses, never those who abuse nature.

Be just before you are generous.

'Tis safest in matrimony to begin with a little aversion.

Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible.

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two!

A fluent tongue is the only thing a mother don't like her daughter to resemble her in.

Believe that story false that ought not to be true.

The newspapers! Sir, they are the most villainous - licentious -abominable - infernal - Not that I ever read them - No - I make it a rule never to look into a newspaper.

Steal! to be sure they may; and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children,-disfigure them to make 'em pass for their own.

They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.

My valour is certainly going! - it is sneaking off! - I feel it oozing out as it were at the palms of my hands!