Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind." - Meaning and context.">
The Devil's Law Case (1623).
“

Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.

— John Webster

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind." in the context of "The Devil's Law Case (1623)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "John Webster" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John Webster

About John Webster

John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1634) was an English Jacobean dramatist, a late contemporary of William Shakespeare. His tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage.