Richard Brinsley Sheridan quotes
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816): Irish-British politician, playwright and writer. The library holds 58 quotes by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, drawn from The Rivals, The Critic, School for Scandal and other works. The 58 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, art, nature, love, time, kindness
The best-known Richard Brinsley Sheridan quotes
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A life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line,—by deeds, not years.
Pizarro, Act iv. Sc. 1 -
The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.
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Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of the two!
The Critic, Act i. Sc. 2 -
Our ancestors are very good kind of folks; but they are the last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with.
The Rivals, Act iv. Sc. 1 -
You shall see them on a beautiful quarto page, where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.
School for Scandal, Act i. Sc. 1 -
You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing’s curst hard reading.
Clio’s Protest. Life of Sheridan (Moore). Vol. i. p. 155 -
Remember, now, when you meet your antagonist, to do everything in a mild agreeable manner. Let your courage be keen, but, at the same time, as polished as your sword.
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Tale-bearers, as I said before, are just as bad as the tale-makers.
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We will not anticipate the past; so mind, young people,—our retrospection will be all to the future.
The Rivals, Act iv. Sc. 2 -
The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.
Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas. Sheridaniana -
Pity those whom Nature abuses, never those who abuse Nature.
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A circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge.
The Rivals, Act iii. Sc. 1 -
Modesty is a quality in a lover more praised by the women than liked.
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The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.
The Rivals, Act iv. Sc. 3 -
There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.
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In religion as in friendship, they who profess most are ever the least sincere.
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Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible.
The Critic, Act ii. Sc. 1 -
No caparisons, miss, if you please. Caparisons don’t become a young woman.
The Rivals, Act iv. Sc. 2 -
Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics.
The Duenna, Act ii. Sc. 4 -
Through all the drama—whether damned or not—Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.
The Rivals: Epilogue -
As there are three of us come on purpose for the game, you won’t be so cantankerous as to spoil the party by sitting out.
The Rivals, Act v. Sc. 3 -
The newspapers! Sir, they are the most villanous, licentious, abominable, infernal—Not that I ever read them! No, I make it a rule never to look into a newspaper.
The Critic, Act i. Sc. 2 -
An unforgiving eye, and a damned disinheriting countenance.
School for Scandal, Act v. Sc. 1 -
You are not like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, are you?
The Rivals, Act iv. Sc. 2 -
A circulating library in a town is an ever-green tree of diabolical knowledge.
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My valour is certainly going! it is sneaking off! I feel it oozing out, as it were, at the palm of my hands!
The Rivals, Act v. Sc. 3 -
If parliament were to consider the sporting with reputation of as much importance as sporting on manors, and pass an act for the preservation of fame as well as game, there are many would thank them for the bill.
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If I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!
The Rivals, Act iii. Sc. 3 -
The right honourable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts.
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Sheer necessity,—the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.
The Critic, Act i. Sc. 2 -
Where they do agree on the stage, their unanimity is wonderful.
The Critic, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
As headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.
The Rivals, Act iii. Sc. 3 -
Here is the whole set! a character dead at every word.
School for Scandal, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
Believe not each accusing tongue, As most weak persons do; But still believe that story wrong Which ought not to be true.
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You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing’s cursed hard reading.
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Those who profess most are ever the least sincere.
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Soft pity never leaves the gentle breast Where love has been received a welcome guest.
The Duenna, Act ii. Sc. 3 -
You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing’s curs’d hard reading.
Clio’s Prot -
While his off-heel, insidiously aside. Provokes the caper which he seems to chide.
Pizarro. The Prologue -
Believe that story false that ought not to be true.
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You’re our enemy; lead the way, and we’ll precede.
The Rivals, Act v. Sc. 1 -
They only babble that practise not reflection.
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’Tis safest in matrimony to begin with a little aversion.
The Rivals, Act i. Sc. 2 -
Had I a heart for falsehood framed, I ne’er could injure you.
The Duenna, Act i. Sc. 5 -
Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.
The Rivals, Act i. Sc. 2 -
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.
The Duenna, Act i. Sc. 2 -
There’s nothing like being used to a thing.
The Rivals, Act v. Sc. 3 -
Alas! the devil’s sooner raised than laid.
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Such protection as vultures give to lambs.
Pizarro, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
Our memories are independent of our wills.
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The Spanish fleet thou canst not see, because—it is not yet in sight!
The Critic, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
Inconsolable to the minuet in Ariadne.
The Critic, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope?
The Critic, Act ii. Sc. 1 -
I leave my character behind me.
School for Scandal, Act ii. Sc. 2 -
An oyster may be crossed in love.
The Critic, Act iii. Sc. 1 -
A progeny of learning.
The Rivals, Act i. Sc. 2 -
I own the soft impeachment.
The Rivals, Act v. Sc. 3 -
Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen; Here’s to the widow of fifty; Here’s to the flaunting, extravagant quean, And here’s to the housewife that’s thrifty! Let the toast pass; Drink to the lass; I’ll warrant she’ll prove an excuse for the glass.
School for Scandal, Act iii. Sc. 3
Where these quotes come from
- The Rivals (16 quotes)
- The Critic (9 quotes)
- School for Scandal (5 quotes)
- The Duenna (4 quotes)
- Pizarro (2 quotes)
- Clio’s Protest. Life of Sheridan (Moore) (1 quote)
- Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas. Sheridaniana (1 quote)
- The Rivals: Epilogue (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .