Philip Massinger

Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor are noted for their satire, realism, and political and social themes.

Be wise;
Soar not too high, to fall; but stoop to rise.

Quotes

• The good needs fear no law,
  It is his safety and the bad man's awe.
  • The Old Law (c. 1615–18; printed 1656), with Thomas Middleton and William Rowley

• Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.
  • A Very Woman (1619), Act v. Sc. 4. Compare: "Death hath so many doors to let out life", Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country, act ii. sc. 2; "The thousand doors that lead to death", Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, part i, sect. xliv

• Virtue, if not in action, is a vice,
  And, when we move not forward, we go backward.
  • The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act I, scene i

• What a sea
  Of melting ice I walk on!
  • The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act III, scene iii

• He
  That kills himself to avoid misery, fears it,
  And, at the best, shows but a bastard valour.
  This life's a fort committed to my trust,
  Which I must not yield up till it be forc'd.
  —Nor will I. He's not valiant that dares die,
  But he that boldly bears calamity.
  • The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act IV, scene iii

• Out, you impostors!
  Quack-salving, cheating mountebanks! Your skill
  Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill.
  • Virgin Martyr (1622), Act IV, scene i

• Be wise;
  Soar not too high, to fall; but stoop to rise.
  • Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene ii

• To doubt
  Is worse than to have lost; and to despair
  Is but to antedate those miseries
  That must fall on us.
  • Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii

• The oath in any way or form you please,
  I stand resolv'd to take it.
  • Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii

• He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.
  • The Bondman (1623), Act I, scene iii

• What a bridge
  Of glass I walk upon, over a river
  Of certain ruin! Mine own weighty fears
  Cracking what should support me:—And those helps,
  Which confidence yields to others, are from me
  Ravish'd by doubts, and wilful jealousy.
  • The Bondman (1623), Act IV, scene iii

• Some undone widow sits upon mine arm,
  And takes away the use of it; and my sword,
  Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphans' tears,
  Will not be drawn.
  • A New Way to pay Old Debts (1625), Act v. Sc. 1. Compare: "From thousands of our undone widows / One may derive some wit", Thomas Middleton, A Trick to catch the Old One (1605), Act i, Scene 2

• Cause me no causes.
  • A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625), act i. sc. 3. See X me no X's

• This many-headed monster,
  The giddy multitude.
  • The Roman Actor (1626), Act iii. Sc. 2. Compare: "Many-headed multitude", Sir Philip Sidney, Defence of Poesy, Book ii; "Many-headed multitude", William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act ii, scene 3; "This many-headed monster, Multitude", Daniel, History of the Civil War, book ii, st. 13

• Grim death.
  • The Roman Actor (1626), Act iv. Sc. 2. Compare: "Grim death, my son and foe", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book ii, line 804

• But in our Sanazarro 'tis not so,
  He being pure and tried gold; and any stamp
  Of grace, to make him current to the world,
  The duke is pleased to give him, will add honour
  To the great bestower; for he, though allow'd
  Companion to his master, still preserves
  His majesty in full lustre.
  • Great Duke of Florence (1627), Act I, scene 1

• Like a rough orator, that brings more truth
  Than rhetoric, to make good his accusation.
  • Great Duke of Florence (1627)

• Quiet night that brings
  Rest to the labourer, is the outlaw's day,
  In which he rises early to do wrong,
  And when his work is ended, dares not sleep.
  • The Guardian (1633), Act II, scene iv