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"The younger rises when the old doth fall."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Edmund, in King Lear, act 3, sc. 3, l. 25.
Varying the proverb, "the rising of one man is the falling of another." |
"A pox of this gout! or a gout of this pox! for the one or the
other plays the rogue with my great toe."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Falstaff, in Henry IV, Part 2, act 1, sc. 2, l. 243-5.
Diseases brought on by lechery ("pox" means syphilis) and drinking. |
"The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb.
What is her burying grave, that is her womb."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Friar Lawrence, in Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 3, l. 9-10.
"Earth is the mother of us all" was proverbial, but the Friar develops the paradox that everything nature brings to birth also dies. |
"He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one,
Exceeding wise, fair-spoken and persuading."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Griffith, in Henry VIII, act 4, sc. 2, l. 51-2.
Speaking of Wolsey's good qualities. |
"This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile
promontory."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 298-9. |
"I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding; for besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seemed all one mutual cry. I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hippolyta, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 4, sc. 1, l. 112-8.
Theseus is here associated with classical legends in praise of hunting with a pack of hounds; "bayed" means brought to bay. |
"A fellow almost damned in a fair wife."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Iago, in Othello, act 1, sc. 1, l. 22.
Describing Cassio. |
"This bud of love by summer's ripening breath
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 121-2.
Reassuring herself and Romeo that their love may flourish. |
"I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say, "I
love you"; then if you urge me farther than to say, "Do you
in faith?," I wear out my suit."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry V, act 5, sc. 2, l. 126-9.
"Wear out my suit" means use up all my words of love; Henry presents himself as a plain man to Katherine. |
"O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide!
How couldst thou drain the lifeblood of the child,
To bid the father wipe his eyes withal,
And yet be seen to bear a woman's face?
Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible;
Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British poet. King Henry VI, Pt. III (I, iv).
FaPoR. The Unabridged William Shakespeare, William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, eds. (1989) Running Press. |
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