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Such nat’ral freedoms are but just:
There’s something gen’rous in mere lust.
But to turn a damn’d abandon’d jade
When neither head nor tail persuade;
To be a whore in understanding,
A passive pot for fools to spend in!

— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Poems on Several Occasions (1680)

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More quotes by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

There's not a thing on Earth, that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.

Poems on Several Occasions (1680)

Love a woman? You're an ass!
'Tis a most insipid passion
To choose out for your happiness
The silliest part of God's creation.

Poems on Several Occasions (1680)

Dead, we become the lumber of the world.

Poems on Several Occasions (1680)

The Elephant is never won with Anger,
Nor must that man, who would reclaim a Lion,
Take him by the teeth.

Valentinian (1685)

Natural freedoms are but just:
There's something generous in mere lust.

A Ramble in St. James' Park (1672)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.