John Vanbrugh > Quotes

“Virtue is its own reward.
There's a pleasure in doing good
which sufficiently pays itself.”
― John Vanbrugh

“The want of a thing is perplexing enough, but the possession of it is intolerable.”
― John Vanbrugh

“Once a woman has given you her heart, you can never get rid of the rest of her.”
― John Vanbrugh

“How I should despise such a thing if I were a man. What a nose she has! what a chin! what a neck! Then her eyes--and the worst kissing lips in the universe.”
― John Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife

“True virtue,
wheresoever it moves,
still carries an intrinsic worth
about it.”
― John Vanbrugh

“Shield me, kind heaven, what an inundation of impertinence is here coming upon us!”
― John Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife

“How true is that Philosophy which says
Our Heaven is seated in our Minds!
Through all the roving Pleasures of my Youth,
(Where Nights and Days seem all consum'd in Joy,
Where the false Face of Luxury
Display'd such Charms,
As might have shaken the most holy Hermit,
And made him totter at his Altar)
I never knew one Moment's Peace like this.
Here—in this little soft Retreat,
My thoughts unbent from all the Cares of Life,
Content with Fortune,
Eas'd from the grating Duties of Dependence,
From Envy free, Ambition under foot,
The raging Flame of wild destructive Lust
Reduc'd to a warm pleasing Fire of lawful Love,
My Life glides on, and all is well within.”
― John Vanbrugh, The Relapse

“But you thought wrong, Amanda; For turn the case, and let it be your story; Should you come home, and tell me you had seen a handsome man, should I grow jealous because you had eyes?”
― John Vanbrugh, The Relapse

“Whate'er they are, there is a weight in resolution sufficient for their balance. The soul, I do confess, is usually so careless of its charge, so soft, and so indulgent to desire, it leaves the reins in the wild hand of nature, who, like a Phaeton, drives the fiery chariot, and sets the world on flame. Yet still the sovereignty is in the mind, whene'er it pleases to exert its force. Perhaps you may not think it worth your while to take such mighty pains for my esteem; but that I leave to you.

You see the Price I set upon my Heart,
Perhaps 'tis dear: But spite of all your Art,
You'll find on cheaper Terms we ne'er shall part.”
― John Vanbrugh, The Relapse

“That Trial past, and y'are at ease for ever;
When you have seen the Helmet prov'd,
You'll apprehend no more for him that wears it:
Therefore to put a lasting Period to your Fears,
I am resolv'd, this once, to launch into Temptation.
I'll give you an Essay of all my Virtues;
My former boon Companions of the Bottle
Shall fairly try what Charms are left in Wine:
I'll take my Place amongst them,
They shall hem me in,
Sing Praises to their God, and drink his Glory;
Turn wild Enthusiasts for his sake,
And Beasts to do him Honour:
Whilst I, a stubborn Atheist,
Sullenly look on,
Without one reverend Glass to his Divinity.
That for my Temperance,
Then for my Constancy——”
― John Vanbrugh, The Relapse

“No, my Conscience shan't starve me, neither. But thus far I'll hearken to it; before I execute this Project, I'll try my Brother to the bottom, I'll speak to him with the Temper of a Philosopher; my Reasons (tho' they press him home) shall yet be cloth'd with so much Modesty, not one of all the Truths they urge, shall be so naked to offend his Sight: if he has yet so much Humanity about him, as to assist me (tho' with a moderate Aid) I'll drop my Project at his Feet, and shew him how I can do for him, much more than what I ask he'd do for me. This one conclusive Trial of him I resolve to make—”
― John Vanbrugh, The Relapse

“As for the saints (your thorough-paced ones I mean, with screwed faces and wry mouths), I despair of them, for they are friends to nobody. They love nothing but their altars and themselves; they have too much zeal to have any charity; they make debauches in piety as sinners do in wine, and are as quarrelsome in their religion as other people are in their drink; so I hope nobody will mind what they say.”
― John Vanbrugh, The relapse : or, Virtue in danger.

“No man is worth having is true to his wife, or can be true to his wife, or ever was, or ever will be so.”
― John Vanbrugh

“The Devil's in the fellow, I think——I was told before I married him, that thus 'twou'd be: But I thought I had charms enough to govern him; and that where there was an estate, a woman must needs be happy; so my vanity has deceiv'd me, and my ambition has made me uneasy. But there's some comfort still; if one wou'd be reveng'd of him, these are good times; a woman may have a gallant, and a separate maintenance too—The surly puppy—yet he's a fool for't: for hitherto he has been no monster: But who knows how far he may provoke me? I never lov'd him, yet I have been ever true to him; and that, in spite of all the attacks of art and nature upon a poor weak woman's heart, in favour of a tempting lover. Methinks so noble a defence as I have made, shou'd be rewarded with a better usage—Or who can tell?——Perhaps a good part of what I suffer from my husband, may be a judgment upon me for my cruelty to my lover.——Lord, with what pleasure could I indulge that thought, were there but a possibility of finding arguments to make it good!—--And how do I know but there may?—Let me see——What opposes?—My matrimonial vow——Why, what did I vow? I think I promis'd to be true to my husband. Well; and he promis'd to be kind to me. But he han't kept his word——Why then I'm absolv'd from mine—Ay, that seems clear to me. The argument's good between the King and the people, why not between the husband and the wife? O, but that condition was not exprest—No matter, 'twas understood. Well, by all I see, if I argue the matter a little longer with myself, I shan't find so many bug-bears in the way as I thought I shou'd. Lord, what fine notions of virtue do we women take up upon the credit of old foolish philosophers! Virtue's its own reward, Virtue's this, Virtue's that——Virtue's an ass, and a gallant's worth forty on't.”
― John Vanbrugh, The Provok'd Wife: A Comedy

“Good manners and soft words have brought many a difficult thing to pass.”
― John Vanbrugh

“Thinking is to me the greatest fatigue in the world.”
― John Vanbrugh