# Philip Massinger

Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor are noted for their satire, realism, and political and social themes.

## Quotes

* The good needs fear no law, It is his safety and the bad man's awe.
** The Old Law (c. 1615–18; printed 1656), with Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
* Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.
** A Very Woman (1619), Act v. Sc. 4. Compare: "Death hath so many doors to let out life", Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country, act ii. sc. 2; "The thousand doors that lead to death", Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, part i, sect. xliv
* Virtue, if not in action, is a vice, And, when we move not forward, we go backward.
** The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act I, scene i
* What a sea Of melting ice I walk on!
** The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act III, scene iii
* He That kills himself to avoid misery, fears it, And, at the best, shows but a bastard valour. This life's a fort committed to my trust, Which I must not yield up till it be forc'd. —Nor will I. He's not valiant that dares die, But he that boldly bears calamity.
** The Maid of Honour (c. 1621; printed 1632), Act IV, scene iii
* Out, you impostors! Quack-salving, cheating mountebanks! Your skill Is to make sound men sick, and sick men kill.
** Virgin Martyr (1622), Act IV, scene i
* Be wise; Soar not too high, to fall; but stoop to rise.
** Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene ii
* To doubt Is worse than to have lost; and to despair Is but to antedate those miseries That must fall on us.
** Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii
* The oath in any way or form you please, I stand resolv'd to take it.
** Duke of Milan (1623), Act I, scene iii
* He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.
** The Bondman (1623), Act I, scene iii
* What a bridge Of glass I walk upon, over a river Of certain ruin! Mine own weighty fears Cracking what should support me:—And those helps, Which confidence yields to others, are from me Ravish'd by doubts, and wilful jealousy.
** The Bondman (1623), Act IV, scene iii
* Some undone widow sits upon mine arm, And takes away the use of it; and my sword, Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphans' tears, Will not be drawn.
** A New Way to pay Old Debts (1625), Act v. Sc. 1. Compare: "From thousands of our undone widows / One may derive some wit", Thomas Middleton, A Trick to catch the Old One (1605), Act i, Scene 2
* Cause me no causes.
** A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625), act i. sc. 3. See X me no X's
* This many-headed monster, The giddy multitude.
** The Roman Actor (1626), Act iii. Sc. 2. Compare: "Many-headed multitude", Sir Philip Sidney, Defence of Poesy, Book ii; "Many-headed multitude", William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act ii, scene 3; "This many-headed monster, Multitude", Daniel, History of the Civil War, book ii, st. 13
* Grim death.
** The Roman Actor (1626), Act iv. Sc. 2. Compare: "Grim death, my son and foe", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book ii, line 804
* But in our Sanazarro 'tis not so, He being pure and tried gold; and any stamp Of grace, to make him current to the world, The duke is pleased to give him, will add honour To the great bestower; for he, though allow'd Companion to his master, still preserves His majesty in full lustre.
** Great Duke of Florence (1627), Act I, scene 1
* Like a rough orator, that brings more truth Than rhetoric, to make good his accusation.
** Great Duke of Florence (1627)
* Quiet night that brings Rest to the labourer, is the outlaw's day, In which he rises early to do wrong, And when his work is ended, dares not sleep.
** The Guardian (1633), Act II, scene iv