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Mouths without hands; maintained at vast expense,
In peace a charge, in war a weak defense:
Stout once a month they march, a blustering band,
And ever, but in times of need, at hand.

— John Dryden Cymon and Iphigenia (1700)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Cymon and Iphigenia (1700), line 401.
Work: Cymon and Iphigenia, 1700
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by John Dryden

Love taught him shame, and shame, with love at strife,
Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.

Cymon and Iphigenia (1700)

Pains of love be sweeter far
Than all other pleasures are.

Tyrannick Love (1669)

They say everything in the world is good for something.

The Spanish Friar (1681)

When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!

Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700)

Your ignorance is the mother of your devotion to me.

The Maiden Queen (1667)

A knockdown argument: 'tis but a word and a blow.

Amphitryon (1690)

Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.

Amphitryon (1690)

This is the porcelain clay of humankind.

Don Sebastian (1690)

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Topics

War

More quotes by John Dryden

Death in itself is nothing; but we fear
To be we know not what, we know not where.

Aureng-Zebe (1676)

Whate’er he did, was done with so much ease,
In him alone 'twas natural to please.

Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

Love conquers all, and we must yield to Love.

The Works of Virgil (1697)

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

A Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687)

Whatever is, is in its causes just.

Œdipus (1679)

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Attribution

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