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"O sun,
Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in! darkling stand
The varying shore o' th' world!"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cleopatra, in Antony and Cleopatra, act 4, sc. 15, l. 9-11.
Calling for universal darkness to mark the death of Antony. |
"She is a woman, therefore may be wooed;
She is a woman, therefore may be won."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Demetrius, in Titus Andronicus, act 2, sc. 1, l. 82-3.
Proposing to woo Lavinia, Titus's daughter. |
"To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Duke, in Othello, act 1, sc. 3, l. 204-5.
"Mischief" means misfortune or calamity. |
"That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Falstaff, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 2, sc. 4, l. 467-8.
Inviting sympathy because of old age. |
"Journeys end in lovers meeting."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Feste's song, in Twelfth Night, act 2, sc. 3.
To Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. |
"Gloucester. I hope they will not come upon us now.
King Henry. We are in God's hands, brother, not in theirs."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Gloucester and King Henry, in Henry V, act 3, sc. 6, l. 168-9.
Henry soothes Gloucester's anxiety that the French might attack. |
"There is something in this more than natural, if philosophy
could find it out."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 367-8.
Commenting on his uncle's popularity as king with the people who previously decried him. |
"Value dwells not in particular will;
It holds his estimate and dignity
As well wherein 'tis precious of itself
As in the prizer."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hector, in Troilus and Cressida, act 2, sc. 2, l. 53-7.
Arguing that value depends on intrinsic worth, not on the particular preference of any individual; the debate is about keeping Helen or returning her to the Greeks. |
"But thoughts, the slaves of life, and life, time's fool,
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hotspur, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 5, sc. 4, l. 81-3.
Spoken as he dies, killed in battle by Prince Hal; thought is dependent on life, and life on time. |
"Jaques. Have you a song, forester, for this purpose?
2nd Lord. Yes, sir.
Jaques. Sing it. 'Tis no matter how it be in tune, so it
make noise enough."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Jaques and 2nd Lord, in As You Like It, act 4, sc. 2, l. 5-9.
The song is to celebrate the killing of a deer. |
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William Shakespeare
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