Special Sub-Topic: Contemporaries - Quotations - 1 Click Here To Play: Contemporaries - Quotations - 1

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "All your better deeds/shall be in water writ, but this in marble".

Beamont and Fletcher. This is from "Philaster" Act V Scene III by Francis Beaumont(1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625) who collaborated with Shakespeare on several plays."Philaster" was first performed in 1608.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "Fortune, that favours fools".

Ben Jonson. This is from "The Alchemist" (first performed c.1610) Prologue by Ben Jonson (1573 - 1637) which may also have been written with Shakespeare who acted in Jonson's first major success "Every Man in His Humour", 1597. Jonson seems to have been a 'Sid Ceasar' type character who associated with some of the best writers available.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "Accursed be he that first invented war".

Christopher Marlowe. This is from "Tamburlaine the Great" Act II Scene IV by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593). Another associate of Shakespeare who died a tragically early death but was much admired by his contemporaries. The 'best guess' for a motive for his murder in a Deptford pub is that he was an indiscreet spy and had become a 'security risk'.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "As men/ do walk a mile, women should talk an hour,/ after supper. 'Tis their exercise"

Beaumont and Fletcher. This is also from "Philaster" Act II Scene IV by Beaumont and Fletcher. Fletcher collaborated with Shakespeare on "Henry VIII" and "Two Noble Kinsmen" both c 1613 as well as Jonson, Webster et al. Beaumont collaborated with Massinger, Rowley et al.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "As good luck would have it".

William Shakespeare. This is from "The Merry Wives of Windsor" Act II Scene V by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) the greatest ever playwright. There are few details of Shakespeare's early life and no extant manuscripts by him, the four authenticated signatures of Shakespeare are spelled four different ways including Shaxtpur.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "There is no virtue like necessity".

William Shakespeare. This is from "Richard II" Act I Scene III by William Shakespeare, probably written about 1595. It appears in Meres' chronology of his plays of 1598.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "You are no better than you should be".

Beaumont and Fletcher. This is from "The Coxcomb" Act IV Scene III by Beaumont and Fletcher performed c. 1612.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "Drink to me only with thine eyes/ and I will pledge with mine".

Ben Jonson. This is from "To Celia" by Ben Jonson. Jonson was one of the wild young men or 'Roaring Boys' imprisoned on several occasions most notably in 1598 as the result of a duel in which he killed a fellow actor called Gabriel Spenser. He would have been hanged had he not sought 'benefit of clergy', as a result of which he was branded on the thumb, (proving he could read by reading the so called 'Neck' verse the 51st psalm 1st verse beginning '"miserei mei".

Which playwright(s) first wrote this? "Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight".

Christopher Marlowe. This is from "Hero and Leander" published in 1598 by George Chapman, Act 1 Line 176 by Christopher Marlowe and is quoted by Shakespeare in "As You Like It".

Which playwright(s) wrote this? "She is Venus when she smiles;/but Juno when she walks,/ and Minerva when she talks.

Ben Jonson. This is from "Celebration of Charis" IV Her Triumph by Ben Jonson, in his collection published in 1616. Ben Jonson has some claim to be the first 'poet laureate' as he was granted a Royal pension in 1610.

Which playwright(s) wrote this? "Come live with me and be my love".

Christopher Marlowe. This is from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe was called "dear shepherd" or "passionate shepherd" by Shakespeare. The question of the relationship between the two, some claim they were bitter rivals, has never been satisfactorily settled. I suspect they were friends and associates as were the other playwrights in this quiz.

Which playwright(s) wrote this? "And oftentimes excusing of a fault/doth make the fault worse by the excuse".

William Shakespeare. This is from "King John" Act IV Scene II Line 30 by William Shakespeare. c 1596, again from the list of Francis Meres.

Which playwright(s) wrote this? "Though I am not naturally honest,/I am sometimes by chance"

William Shakespeare. This is from "The Winters Tale" Act IV Scene III Line 734 by William Shakespeare, c 1610.

Which playwright(s) wrote this? "Women are angels, wooing".

William Shakespeare. This is from "Troilus and Cressida" Act I Scene II Line 310 by William Shakespeare c. 1602. 'Stationers Register',1603.

From which playwright(s) does this quotation come? "Men of few words are the best men".

William Shakespeare. This is from "Henry V" Act III Scene II Line 40, c. 1599. Either of the fine film versions by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh are to be heartily recommended