King Richard III. – I. 4
Blood, 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. 2
Good 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 good
To bring bad news. Give to a gracious message
An host of tongues; but let ill tidings tell
Themselves, 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 second
Stood 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. 7
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is 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;