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"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Caliban, in The Tempest, act 3, sc. 2, l. 135-40.
To Stephano and Trinculo, who are scared by Ariel's music. |
"Love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport
neither, than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in
honor come off again."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Celia, in As You Like It, act 1, sc. 2, l. 27-9.
Advice to Rosalind on avoiding commitment in love. |
"Cleopatra. Think you there was or might be such a man
As this I dreamt of?
Dolabella. Gentle madam, no."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cleopatra and Dolabella, in Antony and Cleopatra, act 5, sc. 2, l. 93-4.
Dolabella punctures Cleopatra's fantasy of Antony as superman. |
"Be checked for silence,
But never taxed for speech."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Countess of Rossillion, in All's Well That Ends Well, act 1, sc. 1, l. 67-8.
A mother's advice to her son on how to behave at court. Do not mind being rebuked for saying nothing, but never be charged with saying too much. |
"Douglas. Now remains a sweet reversion—
We may boldly spend, upon the hope
Of what is to come in.
A comfort of retirement lives in this.
Hotspur. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Douglas and Hotspur, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 4, sc. 1, l. 53-7.
Thinking of Northumberland and his army, not with them now, as a reserve for the future; taken in their modern sense, the lines suggest an investment plan; "reversion" means inheritance. |
"I will praise any man that will praise me."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Enobarbus, in Antony and Cleopatra, act 2, sc. 6. |
"Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know'st thy estimate:
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British poet. Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing (l. 1-4). . .
The Unabridged William Shakespeare, William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, eds. (1989) Running Press. |
"Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Gertrude, in Hamlet, act 1, sc. 2, l. 68.
Referring to Hamlet's black mourning dress for his father's death. |
"No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British poet. Hamlet (IV, vii).
NAWM-1. The Unabridged William Shakespeare, William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, eds. (1989) Running Press. |
"How strange or odd some'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 1, sc. 5, l. 171-2.
Announcing to Horatio and Marcellus his idea of pretending to be mad whenever it suits him ("shall think meet). |
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William Shakespeare
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