William Congreve - Famous Lines

Famous Lines

Two of Congreve's turns of phrase from The Mourning Bride (1697) have become famous, albeit frequently in misquotation:

  • "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast," which is the first line of the play, spoken by Almeria in Act I, Scene 1. (The word "breast" is often misquoted as "beast", and "has" sometimes appears as "hath".)
  • "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII. (This is usually paraphrased as "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned")

Congreve coined another famous phrase in Love for Love (1695):

  • "O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell."

Read more about this topic:  William Congreve

Famous quotes containing the words famous and/or lines:

    “A famous theatrical actress
    Played best in the role of malefactress.
    Yet her home-life was pure
    Except, to be sure,
    A scandal or two just for practice.”
    —Anonymous.

    “Wittgenstein imagined that the philosopher was like a therapist whose task was to put problems finally to rest, and to cure us of being bewitched by them. So we are told to stop, to shut off lines of inquiry, not to find things puzzling nor to seek explanations. This is intellectual suicide.”
    —Simon Blackburn (b. 1944)