John Fletcher. 1579-1625. John Bartlett, comp. 1919. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.

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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

John Fletcher. (1579–1625)

Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 1
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”

All things that are
Made for our general uses are at war,—
Even we among ourselves.

Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”

Man is his own star; and that soul that can
Be honest is the only perfect man. 2

Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune.”

Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan,
Sorrow calls no time that ’s gone;
Violets plucked, the sweetest rain
Makes not fresh nor grow again. 3

The Queen of Corinth. Act iii. Sc. 2.

O woman, perfect woman! what distraction
Was meant to mankind when thou wast made a devil!

Monsieur Thomas. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Let us do or die. 4

The Island Princess. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Hit the nail on the head.

Love’s Cure. Act ii. Sc. 1.

I find the medicine worse than the malady. 5

Love’s Cure. Act iii. Sc. 2.

He went away with a flea in ’s ear.

Love’s Cure. Act iii. Sc. 3.

    There ’s naught in this life sweet,
If man were wise to see ’t,
    But only melancholy;
    O sweetest Melancholy! 6

The Nice Valour. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Fountain heads and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves.

The Nice Valour. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow;
You shall perhaps not do ’t to-morrow.

The Bloody Brother. Act ii. Sc. 2.

And he that will to bed go sober
Falls with the leaf still in October. 7

The Bloody Brother. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Three merry boys, and three merry boys,
And three merry boys are we, 8
As ever did sing in a hempen string
Under the gallows-tree.

The Bloody Brother. Act iii. Sc. 2.

    Hide, oh, hide those hills of snow
  Which thy frozen bosom bears,
On whose tops the pinks that grow
  Are of those that April wears!
But first set my poor heart free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee. 9

The Bloody Brother. Act v. Sc. 2.

Something given that way.

The Lover’s Progress. Act i. Sc. 1.

Deeds, not words. 10

The Lover’s Progress. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Note 1.
Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular all his life long.—Robert Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2, memb. 1, subsect. 2. Burton also quotes Anthony Rusca in this connection, v. xviii. [back]

Note 2.
An honest man ’s the noblest work of God.—Alexander Pope: Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 248. Robert Burns: The Cotter’s Saturday Night. [back]

Note 3.
Weep no more, Lady! weep no more,
Thy sorrow is in vain;
For violets plucked, the sweetest showers
Will ne’er make grow again.
Thomas Percy: Reliques. The Friar of Orders Gray. [back]

Note 4.
Let us do or die.—Robert Burns: Bannockburn. Thomas Campbell: Gertrude of Wyoming, part iii. stanza 37.

Scott says, “This expression is a kind of common property, being the motto, we believe, of a Scottish family.”—Review of Gertrude, Scott’s Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 153. [back]

Note 5.
See Bacon, Quotation 16. [back]

Note 6.
Naught so sweet as melancholy.—Robert Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy. Author’s Abstract. [back]

Note 7.
The following well-known catch, or glee, is formed on this song:—

He who goes to bed, and goes to bed sober,
Falls as the leaves do, and dies in October;
But he who goes to bed, and goes to bed mellow,
Lives as he ought to do, and dies an honest fellow. [back]

Note 8.
Three merry men be we.—George Peele: Old Wives’ Tale, 1595. John Webster (quoted): Westward Hoe, 1607. [back]

Note 9.
See Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Quotation 30. [back]

Note 10.
Deeds, not words.—Samuel Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 867. [back]

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