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William Davenant Quotes

1606–1668 England

Sir William Davenant (28 February 1606–7 April 1668), also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras, and who was active both before and after the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

England
Playwrights
Poets

Also known as: Sir William D'Avenant, Sir William Davenant, Sir William d'Avenant, Will Davenant, William D'Avenant, William d'Avenant

Random William Davenant quote

7 quotes

The assembled souls of all that men held wise.

Gondibert (1650)

Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy,
It is not safe to know.

But ask not bodies (doomed to die),
To what abode they go;
Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy,
It is not safe to know.

The monument of vanished mindes.

For angling-rod he took a sturdy oak;
For line, a cable that in storm ne'er broke;
His hook was such as heads the end of pole
To pluck down house ere fire consumes it whole;
This hook was bated with a dragon's tail,—
And then on rock he stood to bob for whale.

For angling-rod he took a sturdy oake;
For line, a cable that in storm ne'er broke;
His hooke was such as heads the end of pole
To pluck down house ere fire consumes it whole;
The hook was baited with a dragon's tale,—
And then on rock he stood to bob for whale.

Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of other treasure belonging to the dead and hidden underground; for they dispose of both with great secrecy, defacing the shape and image of the one as much as of the other.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Davenant (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.