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"Cinna. I am not Cinna the conspirator.
Fourth Plebian. It is no matter, his name's Cinna! Pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cinna the Poet and Fourth Plebian, in Julius Caesar, act 3, sc. 3, l. 32-4.
Cinna the poet has the misfortune to have the same name as a conspirator against Caesar. |
"To imagine
An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cleopatra, in Antony and Cleopatra, act 5, sc. 2, l. 98-100.
Claiming her dream of Antony as superman is nature's masterpiece, more valid than the "shadows" created by fancy, which have no substance. |
"I am not merry; but I do beguile
The thing I am by seeming otherwise."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Desdemona, in Othello, act 2, sc. 1, l. 122-3. |
"As in a theatre the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious,
Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes
Did scowl on gentle Richard."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Duke of York, in Richard II, act 5, sc. 2, l. 23-8.
Commenting on the disrespect shown to Richard by the people of London. |
"There's no more valor in that Poins than in a wild duck."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Falstaff, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 2, sc. 2, l. 101.
After a robbery, from which Poins was absent by design. |
"Let's shake our heads and say,
As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes,
We have seen better days."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Flavius, in Timon of Athens, act 4, sc. 2, l. 27.
To Timon's servants as they depart from his house. |
"As flies to wanton boys, are we to th' gods;
They kill us for their sport."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Gloucester, in King Lear, act 4, sc. 1, l. 37-8 (1623). |
"Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
When our deep plots do pall, and that should learn us
There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 5, sc. 2, l. 8-11.
Acting rashly has saved his life, by revealing Claudius's plot to have Hamlet executed in England; "learn" means teach. |
"For, ere Demetrius looked on Hermia's eyne,
He hailed down oaths that he was only mine,
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Helena, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 1, sc. 1, l. 242-5.
"Eyne" means eyes. |
"Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good mouth-filling oath."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hotspur, in Henry IV pt. 1, act 3, sc. 1, l. 249-50 (1598).
Speaking to his wife (Lady Percy). |
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William Shakespeare
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