William Shakespeare

“ What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
But must be, will’s free hours languish for
Assured bondage?”
IMOGEN.
Will my lord say so?
IACHIMO.
Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with laughter.
It is a recreation to be by
And hear him mock the Frenchman. But heavens know
Some men are much to blame.
IMOGEN.
Not he, I hope.
IACHIMO.
Not he; but yet heaven’s bounty towards him might
Be us’d more thankfully. In himself, ’tis much;
In you, which I account his, beyond all talents.
Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound
To pity too.
IMOGEN.
What do you pity, sir? ”

“ HOSTESS.
Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?
FALSTAFF.
What beast? Why, an otter.
PRINCE.
An otter, Sir John? Why an otter?
FALSTAFF.
Why, she’s neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her.
HOSTESS.
Thou art an unjust man in saying so, thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou.
PRINCE.
Thou say’st true, hostess, and he slanders thee most grossly.
HOSTESS.
So he doth you, my lord, and said this other day you ought him a thousand pound.
PRINCE.
Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound?
FALSTAFF.
A thousand pound, Hal? ”

“ HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
Ay, by heaven, my lord.
HAMLET.
There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he’s an arrant knave.
HORATIO.
There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
HAMLET.
Why, right; you are i’ the right;
And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part:
You, as your business and desire shall point you,—
For every man hath business and desire,
Such as it is;—and for my own poor part,
Look you, I’ll go pray.
HORATIO.
These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. ”

“ O my sweet lord, that you will stay behind us!
PAROLLES.
’Tis not his fault; the spark.
SECOND LORD.
O, ’tis brave wars!
PAROLLES.
Most admirable! I have seen those wars.
BERTRAM.
I am commanded here, and kept a coil with,
“Too young”, and “the next year” and “’tis too early”.
PAROLLES.
An thy mind stand to’t, boy, steal away bravely.
BERTRAM.
I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock,
Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry,
Till honour be bought up, and no sword worn
But one to dance with. By heaven, I’ll steal away.
FIRST LORD.
There’s honour in the theft. ”

“ ROSALIND.
Marry, that should you, if I were your mistress, or I should think my honesty ranker than my wit.
ORLANDO.
What, of my suit?
ROSALIND.
Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your suit. Am not I your Rosalind?
ORLANDO.
I take some joy to say you are because I would be talking of her.
ROSALIND.
Well, in her person, I say I will not have you.
ORLANDO.
Then, in mine own person, I die.
ROSALIND.
No, faith, die by attorney. The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause. ”

“ DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
Nay, master, both in mind and in my shape.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE.
Thou hast thine own form.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
No, I am an ape.
LUCIANA.
If thou art chang’d to aught, ’tis to an ass.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE.
’Tis true; she rides me, and I long for grass.
’Tis so, I am an ass; else it could never be
But I should know her as well as she knows me.
ADRIANA.
Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,
To put the finger in the eye and weep
Whilst man and master laughs my woes to scorn.
Come, sir, to dinner; Dromio, keep the gate. ”

“ Enter Jaques.
FIRST LORD.
He saves my labour by his own approach.
DUKE SENIOR.
Why, how now, monsieur? What a life is this
That your poor friends must woo your company?
What, you look merrily.
JAQUES.
A fool, a fool! I met a fool i’ th’ forest,
A motley fool. A miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool,
Who laid him down and basked him in the sun,
And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
“Good morrow, fool,” quoth I. “No, sir,” quoth he,
“Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.” ”

“ KING HENRY.
Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?
GLOUCESTER.
This doom, my lord, if I may judge:
Let Somerset be regent o’er the French,
Because in York this breeds suspicion;
And let these have a day appointed them
For single combat in convenient place,
For he hath witness of his servant’s malice.
This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.
SOMERSET.
I humbly thank your royal Majesty.
HORNER.
And I accept the combat willingly.
PETER.
Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God’s sake, pity my case! The spite of man prevaileth against me. O Lord, have mercy upon me! ”

“ To equal my great fortune.
BERTRAM.
Let that go.
My haste is very great. Farewell; hie home.
HELENA.
Pray, sir, your pardon.
BERTRAM.
Well, what would you say?
HELENA.
I am not worthy of the wealth I owe;
Nor dare I say ’tis mine, and yet it is;
But, like a timorous thief, most fain would steal
What law does vouch mine own.
BERTRAM.
What would you have?
HELENA.
Something; and scarce so much; nothing indeed.
I would not tell you what I would, my lord. Faith, yes,
Strangers and foes do sunder and not kiss.
BERTRAM.
I pray you, stay not, but in haste to horse. ”

“ I am either maid, or else this old man’s wife.
[Pointing to Lafew.]
KING.
She does abuse our ears; to prison with her.
DIANA.
Good mother, fetch my bail. Stay, royal sir;
[Exit Widow.]
The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for,
And he shall surety me. But for this lord
Who hath abus’d me as he knows himself,
Though yet he never harm’d me, here I quit him.
He knows himself my bed he hath defil’d;
And at that time he got his wife with child.
Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick;
So there’s my riddle: one that’s dead is quick,
And now behold the meaning. ”

“ Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must:
For women’s fear and love holds quantity,
In neither aught, or in extremity.
Now what my love is, proof hath made you know,
And as my love is siz’d, my fear is so.
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
PLAYER KING.
Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too:
My operant powers their functions leave to do:
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,
Honour’d, belov’d, and haply one as kind
For husband shalt thou—
PLAYER QUEEN.
O confound the rest. ”

“ If you have writ your annals true, ’tis there,
That like an eagle in a dovecote, I
Fluttered your Volscians in Corioles,
Alone I did it. “Boy”!
AUFIDIUS.
Why, noble lords,
Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune,
Which was your shame, by this unholy braggart,
’Fore your own eyes and ears?
ALL CONSPIRATORS.
Let him die for’t.
ALL PEOPLE
Tear him to pieces! Do it presently! He killed my son! My daughter! He killed my cousin Marcus! He killed my father!
SECOND LORD.
Peace, ho! No outrage! Peace!
The man is noble, and his fame folds in
This orb o’ th’ Earth. ”

“ HORATIO.
Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too.
HAMLET.
They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that. I will speak to this fellow.—Whose grave’s this, sir?
FIRST CLOWN.
Mine, sir.
[Sings.]
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
HAMLET.
I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in’t.
FIRST CLOWN.
You lie out on’t, sir, and therefore ’tis not yours.
For my part, I do not lie in’t, yet it is mine.
HAMLET.
Thou dost lie in’t, to be in’t and say it is thine. ’Tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest. ”

“ My Lord of Westmoreland,
Lead him to his tent.
WESTMORELAND.
Come, my lord, I’ll lead you to your tent.
PRINCE.
Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help,
And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive
The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
Where stain’d nobility lies trodden on,
And rebels’ arms triumph in massacres!
LANCASTER.
We breathe too long. Come, cousin Westmoreland,
Our duty this way lies. For God’s sake, come.
[Exeunt Lancaster and Westmoreland.]
PRINCE.
By Heaven, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster,
I did not think thee lord of such a spirit. ”

“ Be thou blest, Bertram, and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none. Be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key. Be check’d for silence,
But never tax’d for speech. What heaven more will,
That thee may furnish and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell. My lord,
’Tis an unseason’d courtier; good my lord,
Advise him.
LAFEW.
He cannot want the best
That shall attend his love. ”

“ Will you be gone?
VIRGILIA.
[To Brutus.] You shall stay too. I would I had the power
To say so to my husband.
SICINIUS.
Are you mankind?
VOLUMNIA.
Ay, fool, is that a shame? Note but this, fool.
Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words?
SICINIUS.
O blessed heavens!
VOLUMNIA.
More noble blows than ever thou wise words,
And for Rome’s good. I’ll tell thee what—yet go.
Nay, but thou shalt stay too. I would my son
Were in Arabia and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand. ”

“ CLEOPATRA.
I dare not, dear
Dear my lord, pardon. I dare not,
Lest I be taken. Not th’ imperious show
Of the full-fortuned Caesar ever shall
Be brooched with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe.
Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony—
Help me, my women—we must draw thee up.
Assist, good friends.
ANTONY.
O, quick, or I am gone.
CLEOPATRA.
Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight. ”

“ My liege and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time
Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it; for to define true madness,
What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?
But let that go.
QUEEN.
More matter, with less art.
POLONIUS.
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he is mad, ’tis true: ’tis true ’tis pity;
And pity ’tis ’tis true. ”

“ Beside the haughty Protector, have we Beaufort
The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York; and not the least of these
But can do more in England than the King.
SUFFOLK.
And he of these that can do most of all
Cannot do more in England than the Nevilles;
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN MARGARET.
Not all these lords do vex me half so much
As that proud dame, the Lord Protector’s wife.
She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,
More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife.
Strangers in court do take her for the Queen. ”

“ Thou hast astonish’d me with thy high terms.
Only this proof I’ll of thy valour make:
In single combat thou shalt buckle with me,
And if thou vanquishest, thy words are true;
Otherwise I renounce all confidence.
PUCELLE.
I am prepared. Here is my keen-edg’d sword,
Deck’d with five flower-de-luces on each side,
The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine’s churchyard,
Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.
CHARLES.
Then come, o’ God’s name; I fear no woman.
PUCELLE.
And while I live, I’ll ne’er fly from a man.
[Here they fight, and Joan la Pucelle overcomes.] ”

“ What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?
GUILDENSTERN.
Prison, my lord?
HAMLET.
Denmark’s a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ.
Then is the world one.
HAMLET.
A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ th’ worst.
ROSENCRANTZ.
We think not so, my lord.
HAMLET.
Why, then ’tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ.
Why, then your ambition makes it one; ’tis too narrow for your mind. ”

“ I am a simple maid, and therein wealthiest
That I protest I simply am a maid.
Please it, your majesty, I have done already.
The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me:
“We blush that thou shouldst choose; but, be refused,
Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever,
We’ll ne’er come there again.”
KING.
Make choice; and, see,
Who shuns thy love shuns all his love in me.
HELENA.
Now, Dian, from thy altar do I fly,
And to imperial Love, that god most high,
Do my sighs stream. [To first Lord.] Sir, will you hear my suit? ”

“ Why, hear you, my masters, was it for me to kill the heir-apparent? Should I turn upon the true prince? Why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct. The lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great matter. I was now a coward on instinct. I shall think the better of myself, and thee, during my life—I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money.—Hostess, clap to the doors. Watch tonight, pray tomorrow. Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you! ”

“ DIANA.
There is a gentleman that serves the count
Reports but coarsely of her.
HELENA.
What’s his name?
DIANA.
Monsieur Parolles.
HELENA.
O, I believe with him,
In argument of praise, or to the worth
Of the great count himself, she is too mean
To have her name repeated; all her deserving
Is a reserved honesty, and that
I have not heard examin’d.
DIANA.
Alas, poor lady!
’Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
Of a detesting lord.
WIDOW.
Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe’er she is,
Her heart weighs sadly. This young maid might do her
A shrewd turn, if she pleas’d. ”

“ EXETER.
Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly today!
And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
For thou art fram’d of the firm truth of valour.
[Exit Salisbury.]
BEDFORD.
He is as full of valour as of kindness,
Princely in both.
Enter the King.
WESTMORLAND.
O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work today!
KING.
What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmorland? No, my fair cousin.
If we are mark’d to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour. ”

“ I will set forward tonight.—
Enter Lady Percy.
How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two hours.
LADY PERCY.
O my good lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I this fortnight been
A banish’d woman from my Harry’s bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is’t that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit’st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy? ”

“ A headless man? The garments of Posthumus?
I know the shape of’s leg; this is his hand,
His foot Mercurial, his Martial thigh,
The brawns of Hercules; but his Jovial face—
Murder in heaven! How! ’Tis gone. Pisanio,
All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks,
And mine to boot, be darted on thee! Thou,
Conspir’d with that irregulous devil, Cloten,
Hath here cut off my lord. To write and read
Be henceforth treacherous! Damn’d Pisanio
Hath with his forged letters (damn’d Pisanio)
From this most bravest vessel of the world
Struck the main-top. O Posthumus! alas,
Where is thy head? ”