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Curiosity: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

You are the cruell'st she alive, If you will lead these graces to the grave And leave the world no copy.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 259.

Inhumanity is caught from man, From smiling man.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night V. L. 158.

Each window like a pill'ry appears, With heads thrust through nail'd by the ears.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III. L. 391.

I loathe that low vice-curiosity.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto I. St. 23.

The poorest of the sex have still an itch To know their fortunes, equal to the rich. The dairy-maid inquires, if she shall take The trusty tailor, and the cook forsake.— DRYDEN — Sixth Satire of Juvenal. L. 762.

Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs. S.— GOLDSMITH — She Stoops to Conquer. Act III.

Talk to him of Jacob's ladder, and he would ask the number of steps.— DOUGLAS JERROLD — A Matter-of-Fact

Man. Jerrold's Wit. Rise up, rise up, Xarifa! lay your golden cushion down; Rise up! come to the window, and gaze with all the town!— JOHN G. LOCKHART — The Bridal of

Andella. Zaccheus, he Did climb the tree, His Lord to see. From the New England Primer. 1814. I saw and heard, for we sometimes, Who dwell this wild, constrained by want, come forth To town or village nigh, nighest is far, Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear, What happens new; fame also finds us out.— MILTON — Paradise Regained. Bk. I. L. 330.

I have perceived a most faint neglect of late, which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness.— Shakespeare — King Lear. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 73.

O, Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou, Romeo?— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 33.

They mocked thee for too much curiosity.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 302.

What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 117.

I have seen A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inlaid ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; To which, in silence hushed, his very soul Listened intensely.— WORDSWORTH — The Excursion. Bk. 4.