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Women have tongues of craft, and hearts of guile,
They will, they will not, fools that on them trust,
For in their speech is death, hell in their smile.

— Edward Fairfax Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Book XIX, stanza 84
Work: Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, 1600
Source quality: Source identified Names the work or year, but without an exact location.

More by Edward Fairfax

The fear of ill exceeds the evil we fear.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Nor love consents that beauty's field lie waste.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Hard is that heart which beauty makes not soft.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Better sit still, men say, than rise to fall.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Vile man, begot of clay, and born of dust.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Power constrained is but a glorious slave.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Oh vanity of man's unstable mind,
Puffed up with every blast of friendly wind!

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Sorrow, misfortune's son, despair's foul sire.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

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Topics

Women

More quotes by Edward Fairfax

Patience, a praise; forbearance is a treasure;
Sufferance, an angel is; a monster, rage.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Remembrance is the life of grief; his grave,
Forgetfulness.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Nature gives beauty, fortune wealth, in vain.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

Base affections fall, when virtue riseth.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

The throne of Cupid had an easy stair;
His bark is fit to sail with every wind;
The breach he makes no wisdom can repair.

Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

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Attribution

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