Quote collection
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"Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, But 'banished' to kill me--'banished'? O friar, the damned use that word in hell; Howling attends it! How hast thou the heart, Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, A sin-absolver, and my friend professed, To mangle me with that word 'banished'?"
"Speak, what trade art thou? Why, sir, a carpenter. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What does thou with thy best apparel on?"
"Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
"Who is it that can tell me who I am?"
"Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment."
"What must be shall be."
"Having nothing, nothing can he lose."
"Time's the king of men; he's both their parent, and he is their grave, and gives them what he will, not what they crave."
"Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again."
"For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men's blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know."
"And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse."
"Journeys end in lovers meeting."
"O for a horse with wings!"
"This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,--This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."
"That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman."
"Why, thou deboshed fish thou...Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?"
"The means that heaven yields must be embraced, and not neglected; else, if heaven would, and we will not heaven's offer, we refuse the proffered means of succor and redress."
"Crabbed age and youth cannot live together; Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full sport, age's breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee."
"O, let him pass. He hates him That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer."
"Refrain to-night; And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence, the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature, And either master the devil or throw him out With wondrous potency."