Aphra Behn

thumb|250px|Variety is the soul of pleasure. Aphra Behn (née Johnson; 10 July 1640 – 16 April 1689) was a prolific Restoration dramatist and writer of amatory fiction. She is believed to be the first English professional woman writer. Quotes No friend to Love like a long voyage at sea. The Rover, Part I, Act I, sc. ii (1677). There's no sinner like a young saint. The Rover, Part I, Act I, sc. ii. Patience is a flatterer, sir, and an ass, sir. The Feigned Courtesans, Act III, sc. i (1679). Variety is the soul of pleasure. The Rover, Part II, Act I (1681). Come away; poverty's catching. The Rover, Part II, Act I. Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand. The Rover, Part II, Act III, sc. i. One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on. The Rover, Part II, Act V. A brave world, sir, full of religion, knavery, and change: we shall shortly see better days. The Roundheads (1682). Faith, sir, we are here today, and gone tomorrow. The Lucky Chance, Act IV (1686). Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret. The Lover's Watch, "Four o'Clock General Conversation" (1686). Oh what a dear ravishing thing is the beginning of an Amour! The Emperor of the Moon, Act I, sc. i (1687). He that knew all that ever Learning writ, Knew only this - that he knew nothing yet. The Emperor of the Moon, Act III, sc. iii. Nothing is more capable of troubling our reason, and consuming our health, than secret notions of jealousy in solitude. The History of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688). …that perfect Tranquillity of Life, which is no where to be found, but in retreat, a faithful Friend and a good Library… The Lucky Mistake (1689). Each moment of the happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life. The Younger Brother, Act III, sc. ii (published posthumously 1696). Since man with that inconstancy was born, To love the absent, and the present scorn. "To Alexis in Answer to his Poem against Fruition. Ode", in Paul Tallemant, Lycidus, or, The Lover in Fashion (1688), p. 130 Quotes about Behn All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn [...] for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929) She was employed by Charles II, in 1666, in a political negotiation at Antwerp, which she managed with much dexterity; but her intelligence (though well-founded) being disregarded, she renounced all state affairs, and amused herself some time with the gallantries of Antwerp; and, when she arrived at London, dedicated the rest of her life to pleasure and poetry. John Nichols, A Select Collection of Poems (Vol. I): with Notes (1780). External links Aphra Behn Aphra Behn Author:Aphra Behn Aphra Behn: Biography, Works, Quotes, and Additional Resources at Luminarium.org Aphra_Behn Aphra Behn Category:1640 births Category:1689 deaths Category:Poets from England Category:Novelists from England Category:Playwrights from England Category:Translators from England Category:Women authors from England Category:Feminists from England Category:People from Canterbury Category:Women born before the 19th century