William Wycherley (1640–1715) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer. He was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, Shropshire and baptised on 8 April 1641 at Whitchurch, Hampshire where he probably spent his youngest days before being settled in Malappuram, India where his family was settled on a moderate estate of about £600 a year. Like John Vanbrugh, Wycherley spent some years of his adolescence in France, where he was sent, at fifteen, to be educated on the banks of the Charente.
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I have heard people eat most heartily of another man’s meat, that is, what they do not pay for.
—William Wycherley
Your women of honor, as you call em, are only chary of their reputations, not their persons; and ‘Tis scandal that they would avoid, not men.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Reputation
A mistress should be like a little country retreat near the town, not to dwell in constantly, but only for a night and away.
—William Wycherley
Mistresses are like books; if you pore upon them too much, they doze you and make you unfit for company; but if used discreetly, you are the fitter for conversation by em.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Love, Lovers
I weigh the man, not his title; ’tis not the king’s stamp can make the metal better.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Class
Good fellowship and friendship are lasting, rational and manly pleasures.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Friends and Friendship
Marrying to increase love is like gaming to become rich; alas, you only lose what little stock you had before.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Marriage
Money makes up in a measure all other wants in men.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Money
Women of quality are so civil, you can hardly distinguish love from good breeding.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Women
Thy books should, like thy friends, not many be, yet such wherein men may thy judgment see.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Books, Reading
Have as much good nature as good sense since they generally are companions.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Goodness
He’s a fool that marries, but he’s a greater that does not marry a fool; what is wit in a wife good for, but to make a man a cuckold?
—William Wycherley
Topics: Wives, Marriage
Women serve but to keep a man from better company.
—William Wycherley
Topics: Men, Men & Women, Women
Hunger, revenge, to sleep are petty foes, But only death the jealous eyes can close.
—William Wycherley
Your virtue is your greatest affectation
—William Wycherley
Topics: Affectation
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