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The worst men often give the best advice.
Our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts.

— Philip James Bailey Festus (1813)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Festus (1813), scene A Village Feast. Evening, line 917. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 10-11.
Work: Festus, 1813
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Philip James Bailey

Could I love less, I should be happier now.

Festus (1813)

The hero is the world-man, in whose heart
One passion stands for all, the most indulged.

Festus (1839)

Who never doubted never half believed
Where doubt there truth is—'t is her shadow.

Festus (1839)

How slight a chance may raise or sink a soul!

Festus (1839)

He hath no power that hath not power to use.

Festus (1813)

Ah, nothing comes to us too soon but sorrow.

Festus (1813)

Defining night by darkness, death by dust.

Festus (1813)

Lowliness is the base of every virtue,
And he who goes the lowest builds the safest.

Festus (1813)

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Topics

Advice

More quotes by Philip James Bailey

Poets are all who love, who feel great truths,
And tell them; and the truth of truths is love.

Festus (1839)

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

Festus (1839)

Evil and good are God's right hand and left.

Festus (1839)

Love spends his all, and still hath store.

Festus (1813)

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.

Festus (1813)

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Attribution

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