Thomas Southerne

Thomas Southerne (1660 – May 22, 1746), Irish dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660, and entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1676. Two years later he was entered at the Middle Temple, London.

Thomas Southerne

Quotes

• Pity's akin to love.
  • Oroonoka, Act ii, scene 1; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Of all the paths [that] lead to a woman's love / Pity's the straightest", John Fletcher, The Knight of Malta, Act i, scene 1.

• Of the king's creation you may be; but he who makes a count ne'er made a man.
  • Sir Anthony Love, Act ii, scene 1; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "I weigh the man, not his title; 'tis not the king's stamp can make the metal better", William Wycherley, The Plaindealer, Act i. scene 1.

•     And when we're worn,
  Hack’d, hewn with constant service, thrown aside
  To rust in peace, or rot in hospitals.
  • The Loyal Brother (1682), Act i.