THE LIBERTINE -- QUOTES
Rochester: That would not be appropriate for a man of breeding.
[Throws food at his mother]
Rochester: How old are you, Mr. Downs?
Billy Downs: Eighteen, my lord.
Rochester: Young man, you will die of this company. Do not laugh, I'm
serious.
Rochester: And yet you do not draw the moral of the incident.
Billy Downs: Which is?
Rochester: That any experiment of interest in life will be carried out at
your own expense. Mark it well.
Rochester: This is your first season on the London stage?
Elizabeth Barry: It is, my lord.
Rochester: Mrs. Barry, you must acquire the trick of ignoring those who
do not like you. In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two
categories: The stupid and the envious. The stupid will like you in five years
time. The envious, never.
Rochester: If you had ever loved a man, you would say that speech with
regret because you would fear the loss of him.
Elizabeth Barry: And supposing I have loved?
Rochester: Then show me in the speech.
Rochester: I am come to train you... in your acting.
Elizabeth Barry: So you said when we first met, but your reputation being
what it is, I thought you meant something different.
Rochester: I have, I hope, many reputations.
Rochester: Ah, to die onstage at the hands of a beautiful woman.
Elizabeth Barry: I am no such!
Rochester: When I wake in the country, I dream of being in London. When I get here, it's full of people like you.
Rochester: Well freeze my piss if the royal finger ain't beckoning me. How exciting.
Rochester: I don't mean to upset people, but I must speak my mind. For
what's in my mind is far more interesting than what's outside my mind.
Alcock: Makes you impossible to live with, though. You see?
Rochester: Did I once praise you for your blunt manner?
Alcock: It was your reason for employing me.
Rochester: It could as easy be your grounds for dismissal.
Rochester: [of his play] The entire piece has been devised with the French in mind. In France, fornication in the streets with total strangers is *compulsory*.
Rochester: I love London. Everyone catches its generous spirit so quickly.
Rochester: "And wit was his vain frivolous pretence of pleasing others, at his own expense."
Rochester: You are one of life's understudies!
Rochester: I wish to be moved. I cannot feel in life. I must have others do it for me in theater.
Rochester: [to Billy Downs] I told you.
Elizabeth Malet: [holds Wilmont as he weeps] I've been told that the Devil is in you. If that be so, then I know how he made his entrance.
King Charles II: I thought about putting you in the tower. I even considered putting your head on a spike. But I decided on something worse. I'm going to ignore you. I will no longer encourage any hope in my breast for you. I am condemning you to be you for the rest of your life.
Rochester: But life is not a succession of urgent "nows". It's a listless trickle of "why should I's".
Rochester: I shall never forgive you for teaching me how to love life.
[last lines]
Rochester: So here he lies at the last. The deathbed convert. The pious
debauchee. Could not dance a half measure, could I? Give me wine, I drain the
dregs and toss the empty bottle at the world. Show me our Lord Jesus in agony
and I mount the cross and steal his nails for my own palms. There I go,
shuffling from the world. My dribble fresh upon the bible. I look upon a pinhead
and I see angels dancing. Well? Do you like me now? Do you like me now? Do you
like me now? Do you like me... now?
Rochester: Ink! Ink! Bring me ink!
[Alcock brings him wine]
Rochester: Not drink, lump! Ink!
King Charles II: I handed you a chance to show your shining talent and
what do you give me in return? A pornographic representation of a royal court
where the men only deal in buggery and the women's sole object of interest is
the dildo!
Rochester: A monument to your reign!
King Charles II: When did I banish him?
Royal Advisor: Three months ago.
King Charles II: For how long?
Royal Advisor: A year.
King Charles II: Bring him back. Now.
[to King Charles II, while watching Rochester's play]
French Nobleman: That's very amusing, because in France he would be
executed for this.
King Charles II: Elizabeth had her Shakespeare. You could be mine.
Countess: [contemptuously] Anyone can drink.
Rochester: Not many can match my determination.
Rochester: I never wanted you for a mistress, Lizzy. I wanted you for my wife.
Rochester: Did you miss me?
Jane: I missed the money.
Rochester: Good. I don't like a whore with sentiment.
Rochester: If god wants men to have faith, why does he not make us more
disposed to believe?
Priest: Most men are so disposed.
Rochester: But not me.
Rochester: Oh, written a new play has he? All those afternoons pretending to slope of and roger his mistress, like a decent chap, he was lurking in his rooms poking away at a play. That is disgusting, George.
Jane: Give you your first London spurt of the summer.
Rochester: I brought the wife with me.
Jane: Bit of a waste shooting good jism up the lawful.
King Charles II: Give me a major work of literature and I'll give you 500
guineas.
Rochester: When would you like it? Friday?
Rochester: What is your name?
Alcock: Alcock.
George Etherege: Like master, like servant.
Elizabeth Barry: You could buy my slit for a pound a night, sir. I would not mind that. But I think you would not have it, sir. What I think you want is power over me, which I do bridle at.
Elizabeth Barry: May I always be in your heart, sometimes in your thoughts, but *never* in your debt.
Rochester: I am nature. you are art. Let us see how we compare.
Sackville: She gives a good gobble, but won't do the full wibbly-wobbly!
Nobleman: This fellow is my servant. He has just filched two shillings
from my coat pocket.
Rochester: A thief and a rogue.
Nobleman: My lord, you express it.
Rochester: Haven't quite got the hang of the reign yet, have you?
Nobleman: I will not employ a thief.
Rochester: Then I will.
[to Alcock]
Rochester: How much was your master paying you?
Alcock: Six shillings a week, sir.
Rochester: [Swinging back to the nobleman] Who talks of thieving?
Rochester: The theatre is my drug, and my illness is so far advanced that my physic must be of the highest quality.
Rochester: There is spirit in her.
Jane: When a gent sees the spirit, and not the eyes or the tits, then a
gent is in trouble.
King Charles II: I can't get money out of Louis unless I dissolve
Parliament, and I can't get money out of Parliament unless I fight Louis.
Rochester: Well, choose.
King Charles II: I need money from both of them.
King Charles II: I'm being pissed on from half-a-dozen directions at once and it don't accord with my majestic dignity.
Rochester: All men would be cowards if they only had the courage.
Elizabeth Barry: I will not swap my certain glory for your undependable love.
