Had laws not been, we never had been blam'd; For not to know we sinn'd is innocence.

- William Davenant

Go! dive into the Southern Sea, and when Th'ast found, to trouble the nice sight of men, A swelling pearl, and such whose single worth Boasts all the…

- William Davenant

Anger is blood, poured and perplexed into froth; but malice is the wisdom of our wrath.

- William Davenant

Actions rare and sudden do commonly proceed from fierce necessity, of else from some oblique design, which is ashamed to show itself in the public ro…

- William Davenant

Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, It is not safe to know.

- William Davenant

Praise and Prayer PRAISE is devotion fit for mighty minds, The diff'ring world's agreeing sacrifice; Where Heaven divided faiths united finds: But Pr…

- William Davenant

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.

- William Davenant

Generous souls Are still most subject to credulity.

- William Davenant

All slander must still be strangled in its birth, or time will soon conspire to make it strong enough to overcome the truth.

- William Davenant