Top 50 Philip Massinger Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “A willing mind makes a hard journey easy.”

— Philip Massinger

2. “He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.”

— Philip Massinger

Featured in: Self Control Quotes

3. “Be wise; soar not too high to fall; but stoop to rise.”

— Philip Massinger

4. “A diamond, though set in horns, is still a diamond, and sparkles in purest gold.”

— Philip Massinger

5. “Like a rough orator, that brings more truth Than rhetoric, to make good his accusation.”

— Philip Massinger

6. “Gold – the picklock that never fails.”

— Philip Massinger

7. “Patience, the beggar’s virtue, shall find no harbor here.”

— Philip Massinger

8. “My dancing days are past.”

— Philip Massinger

9. “Revenge, that thirsty dropsy of our souls, makes us covet that which hurts us most.”

— Philip Massinger

10. “Nay, droop not, fellows; innocence should be bold.”

— Philip Massinger

11. “He that knows no guilt can know no fear.”

— Philip Massinger

12. “Oh that thou hadst like others been all words, And no performance.”

— Philip Massinger

13. “Petitions, not sweetened with gold, are but unsavory and oft refused; or, if received, are pocketed, not read.”

— Philip Massinger

14. “I in my own house am an emperor, And will defend what’s mine.”

— Philip Massinger

15. “Cheerful looks make every dish a feast, and it is that which crowns a welcome.”

— Philip Massinger

16. “True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn...”

— Philip Massinger

17. “Malice scorned, puts out itself; but argued, give a kind of credit to a false accusation.”

— Philip Massinger

18. “The good needs fear no law, It is his safety and the bad man’s awe.”

— Philip Massinger

19. “Though the desire of fame be the last weakness Wise men put off.”

— Philip Massinger

20. “Greatness, with private men Esteem’d a blessing, is to me a curse; And we, whom, for our high births, they conclude The happy freemen, are the only slaves. Happy the golden mean!”

— Philip Massinger

21. “What a seaOf melting ice I walk on!”

— Philip Massinger

22. “Ambition, in a private man is a vice, is in a prince the virtue.”

— Philip Massinger

23. “Black detraction will find faults where they are not.”

— Philip Massinger

24. “This is the Jew that Shakespeare drew.”

— Philip Massinger

25. “I have play’d the fool, the gross fool, to believe The bosom of a friend will hold a secret Mine own could not contain.”

— Philip Massinger

26. “Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.”

— Philip Massinger

27. “He that doth public good for multitudes, finds few are truly grateful.”

— Philip Massinger

28. “Thou art figured blind, and yet we borrow our best sight from thee.”

— Philip Massinger

29. “Ill news are swallow-winged, but what is good walks on crutches.”

— Philip Massinger

30. “Virtue, thou in rags, may challenge more than vice set off with all the trim of greatness.”

— Philip Massinger

31. “What pity ’tis, one that can speak so well, Should in his actions be so ill!”

— Philip Massinger

32. “The over curious are not over wise.”

— Philip Massinger

33. “To doubt is worse than to have lost; And to despair is but to antedate those miseries that must fall on us.”

— Philip Massinger

34. “Conscience and wealth are not always neighbors.”

— Philip Massinger

35. “You may boldly say, you did not plough Or trust the barren and ungrateful sands With the fruitful grain of your religious counsels.”

— Philip Massinger

36. “What can innocence hope for, When such as sit her judges are corrupted!”

— Philip Massinger

37. “Such as ne’er saw swans May think crows beautiful.”

— Philip Massinger

38. “And, to all married men, be this a caution, Which they should duly tender as their life, Neither to doat too much, nor doubt a wife.”

— Philip Massinger

39. “I had not to this time subsisted, but that I was supported by your frequent courtesies and favours.”

— Philip Massinger

40. “Pleasures of worse natures Are gladly entertained, and they that shun us Practice in private sports the stews would blush at.”

— Philip Massinger

41. “Virgin me no virgins! I must have you lose that name, or you lose me.”

— Philip Massinger

42. “0 summer friendship, whose flat-tering leaves shadowed us in our prosperity, With the least gust, drop off in the autumn of adversity.”

— Philip Massinger

43. “They are only safe That know to soothe the prince’s appetite, And serve his lusts.”

— Philip Massinger

44. “But married once, a man is stak’d or pown’d, and cannot graze beyond his own hedge.”

— Philip Massinger

45. “Nor custom, nor example, nor cast numbers Of such as do offend, make less the sin.”

— Philip Massinger

46. “If you like not hanging, drown yourself; Take some course for your reputation.”

— Philip Massinger

47. “The soul is strong that trusts in goodness.”

— Philip Massinger

48. “He is not valiant that dares lie; but he that boldly bears calamity.”

— Philip Massinger

49. “Tis the only discipline we are born for; all studies else are but as circular lines, and death the center where they all must meet.”

— Philip Massinger

50. “For any man to match above his rank is but to sell his liberty.”

— Philip Massinger