Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare

But yetI do not like but yet, it does allayThe good precedence; fye upon but yet:But yet is as a gailer to bring forthSome monstrous malefactor.Antony and Cleopatra – II. 5

EXCESS.

A surfeit of the sweetest thingsThe deepest loathing to the stomach brings.Midsummer Night’s Dream – II. 3Every inordinate cup is unblessed,and the ingredient is a devil.Othello – II. 3

FALSEHOOD.

Falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent,Three things that women hold in hate.Two Gentlemen of Verona – III. 2

FEAR.

Fear frames disorder, and disorder woundsWhere it should guard.King Henry VI., Part 2d – V. 2Fear, and be slain; no worse can come, to fight:And fight and die, is death destroying death;Where fearing dying, pays death servile breath.King Richard II. – III. 2

FEASTS.

Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry feast.Comedy of Errors – III. 1

FILIAL INGRATITUDE.

Ingratitude! Thou marble-hearted fiend,More hideous, when thou showest thee in a child,Than the sea-monster.King Lear – I. 4How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it isTo have a thankless childIdem – I. 4

FORETHOUGHT.

Determine on some course,More than a wild exposure to each causeThat starts i’ the way before thee.Coriolanus – IV. 1

FORTITUDE.

Yield not thy neckTo fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mindStill ride in triumph over all mischance.King Henry VI., Part 3d – III. 3

FORTUNE.

When fortune means to men most good,She looks upon them with a threatening eye.King John – III. 4

GREATNESS.

Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness!This is the state of man: To-day he puts forthThe tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost;And, – when he thinks, good easy man, full surelyHis greatness is ripening, – nips his root,And then he falls, as I do.King Henry VIII. – III. 2Some are born great, some achieve greatness,and some have greatness thrust upon them.Twelfth Night – II. 5

HAPPINESS.

O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happinessthrough another man’s eyes.As You Like It – V. 2

HONESTY.

An honest man is able to speak for himself,when a knave is not.King Henry VI., Part 2d – V. 1To be honest, as this world goes, is to beone man picked out of ten thousand.Hamlet – II. 2

HYPOCRISY.

Devils soonest tempt,resembling spirits of light.Love’s Labor Lost – IV. 3One may smile, and smile,and be a villain.Hamlet – I. 5

INNOCENCE.

The trust I have is in mine innocence,And therefore am I bold and resolute.Troilus and Cressida – IV. 4

INSINUATIONS.

The shrug, the hum, or ha; these petty brands,That calumny doth use; -For calumny will searVirtue itself: – these shrugs, these bums, and ha’s,When you have said, she’s goodly, come between,Ere you can say she’s honest.Winter’s Tale – II. 1

JEALOUSY.

Trifles, light as air,Are, to the jealous, confirmations strongAs proofs of holy writ.Othello – III. 3O beware of jealousy:It is the green-eyed monster, which does mockThe meat it feeds on.Idem

JESTS.

A jest’s prosperity lies in the earof him that hears it.Love’s Labor Lost – V. 2He jests at scars,that never felt a wound.Romeo and Juliet – II. 2

JUDGMENT.

Heaven is above all; there sits a Judge,That no king can corrupt.King Henry VIII, – III. 1

LIFE.

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.Macbeth – V. 5We are such stuffAs dreams are made of, and our little lifeIs rounded with a sleep.The Tempest – IV. 1

LOVE.

A murd’rous, guilt shows not itself more soon,Than love that would seem bid: love’s night is noon.Twelfth Night – III. 2Sweet love, changing his property,Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate.King Richard II. – III. 2When love begins to sicken and decay,It useth an enforced ceremony.Julius Caesar – II. 2The course of true-lovenever did run smooth.Midsummer Night’s Dream – I. 1Love looks not with the eyes,but with the mind.IdemShe never told her love, -But let concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud,Feed on her damask check: she pined in thoughtAnd, with a green and yellow melancholy,She sat like Patience on a monument,Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?Twelfth Night – II. 4But love is blind, and lovers cannot seeThe pretty follies that themselves commit.The Merchant of Venice – II. 6

MAN.

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason!How infinite in faculties! in form, and moving,how express and admirable! in action, how likean angel! in apprehension, how like a god! thebeauty of the world! the paragon of animals!Hamlet – II. 2

MERCY.

The quality of mercy is not strained:it droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven,Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d;It blesses him that gives, and him that takes:‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomesThe throned monarch better than his crown:His scepter shows the force of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majesty,Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;But mercy is above this sceptered sway;It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;It is an attribute to God himself;And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,When mercy seasons justice.Consider this, -That, in the course of justice, none of usShould see salvation: we do pray for mercy;And that same prayer doth teach us all to renderThe deeds of mercy.Merchant of Venice – IV. 1

MERIT.

Who shall go aboutTo cozen fortune, and be honorableWithout the stamp of merit! Let none presumeTo wear an undeserved dignity.Merchant of Venice – II. 9

MODESTY.

It is the witness still of excellency,To put a strange face on his own perfection.Much Ado About Nothing – II. 3

MORAL CONQUEST.

Brave conquerors! for so you are,That war against your own affections,And the huge army of the world’s desires.Love’s Labor’s Lost – I. 1

MURDER.

The great King of kingsHath in the table of his law commanded,That thou shalt do no murder.Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his band,To hurl upon their heads thatbreak his law.King Richard III. – I. 4Blood, like sacrificing Abel’s, cries,Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth.King Richard II. – I. 1

MUSIC.

The man that hath no music in himself,Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as night,And his affections dark as Erebus:Let no such man be trusted.Merchant of Venice – V. 1

NAMES.

What’s in a name? that, which we call a rose,By any other name would smell as sweet.Romeo and Juliet – II. 2Good name, in man, and woman,Is the immediate jewel of their souls:Who steals my purse steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing.‘Twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to thousands:But he, that filches from me my good name,Robs me of that, which not enriches him,And makes me poor indeed.Othello – III. 3

NATURE.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.Troilus and Cressida – III. 3

NEWS, GOOD AND BAD.

Though it be honest, it is never goodTo bring bad news. Give to a gracious messageAn host of tongues; but let ill tidings tellThemselves, when they be felt.Antony and Cleopatra – II. 5

OFFICE.

‘Tis the curse of service;Preferment goes by letter, and affection,Not by the old gradation, where each secondStood heir to the first.Othello – I. 1

OPPORTUNITY.

Who seeks, and will not take when offered,Shall never find it more.Antony and Cleopatra – II. 7There is a tide in the affairs of men,Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows, and in miseries:And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose our ventures.Julius Caesar – IV. 3

OPPRESSION.

Press not a falling man too far; ‘tis virtue:His faults lie open to the laws; let them,Not you, correct them.King Henry VIII. – III. 2

PAST AND FUTURE.

O thoughts of men accurst!Past, and to come, seem best; things present, worst.King Henry IV., Part 2d – I. 3

PATIENCE.

How poor are they, that have not patience! -What wound did ever heal, but by degrees?Othello – II. 3

PEACE.

A peace is of the nature of a conquest;For then both parties nobly are subdued,And neither party loser.King Henry IV., Part 2d – IV. 2I will use the olive with my sword:Make war breed peace; make peace stint war; make eachPrescribe to other, as each other’s leech.Timon of Athens – V. 5I know myself now; and I feel within meA peace above all earthly dignities,A still and quiet conscience.King Henry VIII. – III. 2

PENITENCE.

Who by repentance is not satisfied,Is nor of heaven, nor earth; for these are pleased;By penitence the Eternal’s wrath appeased.Two Gentlemen of Verona – V. 4

PLAYERS.

All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players:They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts.As You Like It – II. 7There be players, that I have seen play, -and heard others praise, and that highly, -not to speak it profanely, that,neither having the accent of Christians,nor the gait of Christian, Pagan, nor man,have so strutted, and bellowed,that I have thought some of nature’s journeymenhad made men and not made them well,they imitated humanity so abominably.Hamlet – III. 2

POMP.

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?And, live we how we can, yet die we must.King Henry V. Part 3d – V. 2

PRECEPT AND PRACTICE.

If to do were as easy as to know what were goodto do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’scottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine thatfollows his own instructions: I can easier teachtwenty what were good to be done, than be one oftwenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain maydevise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leapso’er a cold decree: such a bare is madness, theyouth, to skip o’er the meshes of good counsel, the cripple.The Merchant of Venice – I. 2

PRINCES AND TITLES.

Princes have but their titles for their glories,An outward honor for an inward toil;And, for unfelt imaginations,They often feel a world of restless cares:So that, between their titles, and low name,There’s nothing differs but the outward fame.King Richard III. – I. 4

QUARRELS.

In a false quarrel these is no true valor.Much Ado About Nothing – V. 1Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just;And he but naked, though locked up in steel,Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.King Henry VI., Part 2d – III. 2

RAGE.

Men in rage strike those that wish them best.Othello – II. 3

REPENTANCE.

Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes,Which after-hours give leisure to repent.King Richard III. – IV. 4

REPUTATION.

The purest treasure mortal times afford,Is-spotless reputation; that away,Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.A jewel in a ten-times-barred-up chestI- a bold spirit in a loyal breast.King Richard II. – I. 1

RETRIBUTION.

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vicesMake instruments to scourge us.King Lear – V. SIf these men have defeated the law,and outrun native punishment,though they can outstrip men,they have no wings to fly from God.King Henry V. – IV. 1

SCARS.

A sear nobly got, or a noble scar,is a good livery of honor.All’s Well that Ends Well – IV. 6To such as boasting show their scars,A mock is due.Troilus and Cressida – IV. 5

SELF-CONQUEST.

Better conquest never can’st thou make,Than arm thy constant and thy nobler partsAgainst those giddy loose suggestions.King John – III. 1

SELF-EXERTION.

Men at some time are masters of their fates;The fault is not in our stars,But in ourselves.Julius Caesar – I. 2

SELF-RELIANCE.

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated skyGives us free scope; only, doth backward pullOur slow designs, when we ourselves are dull.All’s Well that Ends Well – I. 1

SILENCE.

Out of this silence, yet I picked a welcome;And in the modesty of fearful dutyI read as much, as from the rattling tongueOf saucy and audacious eloquence.Midsummer Night’s Dream – V. 1The silence often of pure innocencePersuades, when speaking fails.Winter’s Tale – II. 2Silence is the perfectest herald of joy:I were but little happy, if I could say how much.Much Ado About Nothing – II. 1

SLANDER.

Slander,Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongueOutvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breathRides on the posting winds, and doth belieAll corners of the world; kings, queens, and states,Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave,This viperous slander enters.Cymbeline – III. 4

SLEEP.

The innocent sleep;Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care,The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,Chief nourisher in life’s feast.Macbeth – II. 2

SUICIDE.

Against self-slaughterThere is a prohibition so divine,That cravens my weak hand.Cymbeline – III. 4

TEMPERANCE.

Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty:For in my youth I never did applyHot and rebellious liquors in my blood;Nor did not with unbashful forehead wooThe means of weakness and debility:Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,Frosty, but kindly.As You Like It – II. 3

THEORY AND PRACTICE.

There was never yet philosopher,That could endure the tooth-ache patiently;However, they have writ the style of the gods,And made a pish at chance and sufferance.Much Ado About Nothing – V. 1

TREACHERY.

Though those, that are betrayed,Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitorStands in worse case of woe.Cymbeline – III. 4

VALOR.

The better part of valor is-discretion.King Henry IV., Part 1st – V. 4When Valor preys on reason,It eats the sword it fights with.Antony and Cleopatra – III. 2What valor were it, when a cur doth grinFor one to thrust his band between his teeth,When he might spurn him with his foot away?King Henry VI., Part 1st – I. 4

WAR.

Take careHow you awake the sleeping sword of war:We charge you in the name of God, take heed.King Henry IV., Part 1st – I. 2

WELCOME.

Welcome ever smiles,And farewell goes out sighing.Troilus and Cressida – III. 3.

WINE.

Good wine is a good familiar creature,if it be well used.Othello – II. 3O thou invisible spirit of wine,if thou hast no name to be known by,let us call thee – devil!.. O, thatmen should put an enemy in their mouths,to steal away their brains!that we should with joy, revel,pleasure, and applause,transform ourselves into beasts!Othello – II. 3

WOMAN.

A woman impudent and mannish grownIs not more loathed than an effeminate man.Troilus and Cressida – III. 3

WORDS.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.Hamlet – III. 3Few words shall fit the trespass best,Where no excuse can give the fault amending.Troilus and Cressida – III. 2

WORLDLY CARE.

You have too much respect upon the world:They lose it, that do buy it with much care.Merchant of Venice – I. 1

WORLDLY HONORS.

Not a man, for being simply man,Hath any honor; but honor for those honorsThat are without him, as place, riches, favor,Prizes of accident as oftas merit;Which when they fall, as being slippery standers,The love that leaned on them, as slippery too,Do one pluck down another, and togetherDie in the fall. But ‘tis not so with me.Troilus and Cressida – III. 3