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"All so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Montague, in Romeo and Juliet, act 1, sc. 1, l. 134-6. |
"I shall th'effect of this good lesson keep
As watchman to my heart."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Ophelia, in Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3.
In response to the lengthy advice given her by her brother Polonius before his departure for France. |
"Had it pleased heaven
To try me with affliction, had they rained
All kind of sores and shames on my bare head,
Steeped me in poverty to the very lips,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Othello, in Othello, act 4, sc. 2, l. 47-53. |
"I am qualmish at the smell of leek."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Pistol, in Henry V, act 5, sc. 1, l. 21.
He is insulting Fluellen, who wears a leek to identify himself as Welsh (usually worn on St. David's Day, delebrating the patron saint of Wales). |
"His valors shown upon our crests today
Have taught us how to cherish such high deeds
Even in the bosom of our adversaries."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Prince Hal, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 5, sc. 4, l. 29-31.
Freeing the prisoner Douglas, who has fought heroically. |
"The screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 5, sc. 1, l. 376-8.
The owl was regarded as a bird of ill omen, often foreboding death. |
"O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, act 5, sc. 1. |
"Sebastian. He is drunk now. Where had he wine?
Alonzo. And Trinculo is reeling ripe. Where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Sebastian and Alonzo, in The Tempest, act 5, sc. 1, l. 278-9.
On the arrival of the drunken butler Stephano and his companion Trinculo; "gilded" means flushed, made them red-faced. |
"For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Sonnet 151 (1609). |
""I hate" from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying "not you.""
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British poet. Those lips that love's own hand did make (l. 13-14).
Son. The Unabridged William Shakespeare, William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, eds. (1989) Running Press. |
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