Aphra Behn > Quotes

“That perfect tranquility of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.”
― Aphra Behn, The Lucky Chance

“There is no sinner like a young saint.”
― Aphra Behn

“Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand.”
― Aphra Behn

“A poet is a painter in his way, he draws to the life, but in another kind; we draw the nobler part, the soul and the mind; the pictures of the pen shall outlast those of the pencil, and even worlds themselves.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“Variety is the soul of pleasure.”
― Aphra Behn

“Where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“Love, like reputation, once fled, never returns more.”
― Aphra Behn, The History Of The Nun Or The Fair Vow Breaker

“Each moment of a happy love's hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”
― Aphra Behn

“Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be
Defence enough against Mortality”
― Aphra Behn

“But time lessens all extremes, & reduces them to mediums & unconcern.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“Possessed with a thousand thoughts of past joys”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“As love is the most noble and divine passion of the soul, so is it that to which we may justly attribute all the real satisfactions of life, and without it, man is unfinished, and unhappy.”
― Aphra Behn

“You may make love in dancing as well as sitting.”
― Aphra Behn, The Emperor of the Moon: A Dialogue-Pantomime; With Alterations, and the Addition of Several Airs, Duets, and Choruses, Selected

“He made her vows she should be the only woman he would possess while he lived; that no age or wrinkles should incline him to change; for her soul would be always fine, and always young; and he should have an eternal idea in his mind of the charms she now bore; and should look into his heart for that idea, when he could find it no longer in her face.”
― aphra behn

“This old dead hero had one only daughter left of his race; a beauty that, to describe her truly, one need say only, she was female to the noble male; the beautiful black Venus to our young Mars; as charming in her person as he, and of delicate virtues. I have seen an hundred white men sighing after her, and making a thousand vows at her feet, all vain, and unsuccessful; and she was, indeed, too great for any, but a prince of her own nation to adore.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“He knew almost as much as if he had read much.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“Willmore: There is no sinner like a young saint.”
― Aphra Behn, The Rover

“No friend to Love like a long voyage at sea.”
― Aphra Behn, The Rover

“For thou hast made a very fiend of me, and I have hell within.”
― Aphra Behn

“I value not the censures of the crowd.”
― Aphra Behn, The Lucky Chance

“A woman’s passion is like the tide, it stays for no man when the hour is come.”
― Aphra Behn, The Lucky Chance

“Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret.”
― Aphra Behn, The Lover's Watch

“he told Byam he had rather die than live upon the same earth with such dogs.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“Fantastic fortune thou deceitful light,
That cheats the weary traveler by night,
Though on a precipice each step you tread,
I am resolved to follow where you lead.”
― Aphra Behn, The Rover

“The king, enraged at this delay, hastily demanded the name of the bold man that had married a woman of her degree without his consent. Imoinda, seeing his eyes fierce, and his hands tremble, whether with a age or anger, I know not, but she fancied the last, almost repented she had said so much, for now she feared the storm would fall on the prince; she therefore said a thousand things to appease the raging of his flame, and to prepare him to hear who it was with calmness; but before she spoke, he imagined who she meant, but would not seem to do so, but commanded her to lay aside her mantle and suffer herself to receive his caresses; or, by his gods, he swore, that happy man whom she was going to name should die, though it were even Oroonoko himself. 'Therefore,' said he, 'deny this marriage, and swear thyself a maid.' 'That,' replied Imoinda, 'by all our powers I do, for I am not yet known to my husband.' 'Tis enough,' said the king, 'tis enough to satisfy both my conscience, and my heart.' And rising from his seat, he went and led her into the bath, it being in vain for her to resist.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“When he came, attended by all the young soldiers of any merit, he was infinitely surprised at the beauty of this fair Queen of Night, whose face and person was so exceeding all he had ever beheld; that lovely modesty with which she received him, that softness in her look, and sighs, upon the melancholy occasion of this honour that was done by so great a man as Oroonoko, and a prince of whom she had heard such admirable things; the awfulness wherewith she received him, and the sweetness of her words and behavior while he stayed, gained a perfect conquest over his fierce heart, and made him feel the victor could be subdued.”
― Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

“And did with sighs their fate deplore,
Since I must shelter them no more;
And if before my joys were such,
In having heard, and seen too much,
My grief must be as great and high,
When all abandoned I shall be,
Doomed to a silent destiny.”
― Aphra Behn

“Each moment of the happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”
― Aphra Behn, The Younger Brother; Or, the Amorous Jilt

“The only shame is the sin.”
― Aphra Behn

“От прекалено любопитство бил изгубен раят.”
― Aphra Behn