Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
William CongreveRead
Come, come, leave business to idlers, and wisdom to fools: they have need of 'em: wit be my faculty, and pleasure my occupation, and let father Time shake his glass.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the value of wit and enjoyment over mundane responsibilities and conventional wisdom.
In this quote, William Congreve suggests that instead of being consumed by the demands of business and the empty wisdom that stems from inaction, one should prioritize wit and pleasure. He advocates for a life enriched by humor and enjoyment, allowing time to pass without the pressures of productivity, which can often lead to folly.
Themes
WitPleasureWisdomBusinessTime
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about finding joy in work.
More from William Congreve
All quotes βShe likes herself, yet others hates, For that which in herself she prizes; And while she laughs at them, forgets She is the thing that she despises.
William CongreveRead
Women are like tricks by sleight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand
William CongreveRead
But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old.
William CongreveRead
Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure.
William CongreveRead
There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire.
William CongreveRead
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After such knowledge, what forgiveness?
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We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right.
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