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"I will be deaf to pleading and excuses.
Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Prince Escalus, in Romeo and Juliet, act 3, sc. 1.
After Romeo's killing of Tybalt. |
"Yonder shines Aurora's harbinger."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 3, sc. 2, l. 380.
The morning star, or Venus, precursor of dawn (Venus is also goddess of love, and here heralds the reconciliation of the lovers in the play). |
"Romeo. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these fruit tree tops—
Juliet. O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Romeo and Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 107-11. |
"The blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wav'ring multitude."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Rumor, in Henry IV, Part 2, act 1, sc. 1, l. 18-9. |
"Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i' th' sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither!"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Song, in As You Like It, act 2, sc. 5, l. 38-42.
Second stanza of a song praising the pastoral life. |
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. The three witches, in Macbeth, act 1, sc. 1, l. 10-11 (1623).
End of the play's opening exchange, emphasising the disruption of the natural order. |
"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,
That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds.
And give to dust that is a little gilt
More laud than gilt o'er dusted;
The present eye praises the present object."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Ulysses, in Troilus and Cressida, act 3, sc. 3, l. 175-180.
"Laud" = praise; appealing to constant changes in fashion in an effort to persuade Achilles to return to the battlefield. |
"Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Albany, in King Lear, act 4, sc. 2, l. 38. |
"I will be
A bridegroom in my death, and run into't
As to a lover's bed."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Antony, in Antony and Cleopatra, act 4, sc. 14, l. 99-101.
Turning suicide into a fantasy of marriage. |
"Were such things here as we do speak about,
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Banquo, in Macbeth, act 1, sc. 3, l. 81-3 (1623).
Addressing Macbeth, referring to the Witches which have just vanished. |
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William Shakespeare
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