Thursday, October 26, 2017

Post 10.26.2017.4

Pericles: Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.

Act I, Sc ii, (79)

Post 10.26.2017.3

Helicanus: They do abuse the king that flatter him;
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;

Act I, Sc ii, (37 - 40)

Post 10.26.2017.2

Pericles: Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by mis-dread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,
Grows elder now and cares it be not done.

Act I, Sc ii (11 - 15)

Post 10.26.2017.1

Pericles: Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
Be my so us'd a guest, as not an hour
In the day's glorious walk or peaceful night --
The tomb where grief should sleep -- can breed me quiet?

Act I, Sc ii, (2 - 6)

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Post 10.22.2017.2

Pericles: Antioch farewell! For wisdom sees, those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night,
Will shun no course to keep them from the light.

Act I, Scene i, (134 - 136)

Post 10.22.2017.1

Pericles: Great King,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act;
'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He's more secure to keep it shut than shown;
For vice repeated is like the wandering wind,
Blow's dust in others' eyes, to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear.
To stop the air would hurt them.  The blind mole casts
Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'd
By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die for't.
Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's their will;
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?

Act I, Sc. i, (91 - 104)

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Post 10.21.2017.3

Pericles: ... O you powers!
That give heaven countless eyes to know men's acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still,
Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill:
But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt;
For he's no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings,
Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down and all the gods to hearken;
But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.

Act I, Sc i. (72 - 86)

Post 10.21.2017.2

Pericles: Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must;
For death remember'd should be like a mirror,
Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it error.
I'll make my will then; and as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heaven, but felling woe,
Gripe not at earthly joys, as erst they did:
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came,...

Act I, Sc. i (41 - 52)

Post 10.21.2017.1

Gower: The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures, play-fellow:
Which to prevent, he made a law,
To keep her still, and men in awe,
That whoso ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:
So for her many a wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.
What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify.

Act I, Prologue (31-42)

Monday, February 15, 2016

Post 2.15.2016.12

Cymbeline:  But I consider,
By medicine life may be prolong'd, yet death
will seize the doctor too.

Act V, Scene v

Post 2.15.2016.11

Posthumus:  Poor wretches, that depend
On greatness' favour dream as I have done;
Wake, and find nothing.  But, alas!  I swerve:
Many dream not to find, neither deserve,
And yet are steep'd in favours; so am I,
That have this golden chance and know not why.

Act V, Scene iv

Post 2.15.2016.10

Posthumus:  To-day how many would have given their honours
To have sav'd their carcases!  took heel to do 't,
And yet died too!  I, in mine own woe charm'd,
Could not find death where I did hear him groan,
Nor feel him where he struck: being an ugly monster,
'Tis strange he hides him in fresh cups, soft beds,
Sweet words; or hath more ministers than we
That draw his knives i' the war.

Act V, Scene iii

Post 2.15.2016.9

Posthumus:  Let me make men know
More valour in me than my habits show.

Act V, Scene i

Post 2.15.2016.8

Piranio:  All other doubts, by time let them be clear'd;
Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd.

Act IV, Scene iii

Post 2.15.2016.7

Belarius:  You were as flowers, now wither'd; even so
These herblets shall, which we upon you strew,
Come on, away; apart upon our knees.
The ground that gave them first has them again;
Their pleasures here are past, so is their pain.

Act IV, Scene ii

Post 2.15.2016.6

Guiderius:  Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
     Nor the furious winter's rayes;
Thou thy worldly task has done,
     Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Arviragus:  Fear no more the frown o' the great,
     Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
     To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Guiderius:  Fear no more the lightning-flash,

Arviragus:  Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone

Guiderius:  Fear not slander, censure rash;

Arviragus:  Thou hast finish'd joy and moan:

Both:  All lovers young, all lover must
  Consign to thee, and come to dust.

Guiderius:  No exorciser harm thee!

Arviragus:  Nor no witchcraft charm thee!

Guiderius:  Ghost unlaid forbear thee!

Arviragus:  Nothing ill come near thee!

Both:  Quiet consummation have;
     And renowned be thy grave!

Act IV, Scene ii

Post 2.15.2016.5

Belarius:  though mean and mighty, rotting
together, have one dust, yet reverence --
That angel of the world -- doth make distinction
Of place 'tween high and low.  Our foe was princely,
And though you took his life, as being our foe,
Yet bury him as a prince.

Guiderius:  Pray you, fetch him hither.
Thersites' body is as good as Ajax'
When neither is alive.

Act IV, Scene ii

Post 2.15.2016.4

Cloten: Thou art a rubber,
A law-breaker, a villain.  Yield thee, theif.

Guiderius: To who?  To thee?  What are thou?  Have not I
An arm as big as thine?  a heart as big?
Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not
My dagger in my mouth.  Say what thou art,
Why should I yield to thee?

Act IV, Scene i

Post 2.15.2016.3

Cloten:  I dare speak it
to myself -- for it is not vain-glory, for a man and his glass
to confer in his own chamber, -- I mean, the lines of my
body are as well drawn as his; no less young, more
strong, not beneath him in fortunes, beyond him in the
advantage of the time, above him in birth, alike conver-
sant in general services, and more remarkable in single
oppositions; yet this imperceiverant thing loves him in
my despite.

Act IV, Scene i 

Post 2.15.2016.2

Cloten:  I love her and I hate her; for she's fair and royal,
And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded,
Outsells them all.  I love her therefore; but
Disdaining me and throwing favours on
The low Posthumus slanders so her judgment
That what's else rare is chok'd, and in that point
I will conclude to hate her, nay, indeed,
To be reveng'd upon her.

Act III, Scene v

Post 2.15.2016.1

Belarius:  Did you know the city's usuries
And felt them knowingly; the art o' the court,
As hard to leave as keep, whose top to cilmb
Is certain falling, or so slippery that
The fears as bad as falling; the toil of the war.
A pain that only seems to seek out danger
I' the name of fame and honour; which dies i' the search,
And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph
As record of fair act; nay, many times,
Doth ill deserve by doing well; what's worse,
Must curtsy at the censure: O boys! this story
The world may read in me;

Act III, Scene iii

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Post 2.6.2016.9

Cloten: Why tribute?  Why should we pay tribute?  If Caesar can
Hide the sun from us with a blanket, or put the moon in
His pocket, we will pay him tribute for light; else, sir, no
More tribute, pray you now.

Act III, Scene i

Post 2.6.2016.8

Cloten:  There be many Caesars
Ere such another Julius.

Act III, Scene i

Post 2.6.2016.7

Posthumus: It is a basilisk unto mine eye,
Kills me to look on't.  Let there be no honor
Where there is beauty; truth where semblance; love
Where there's another man; the vows of women
Of no more bondage be to where they are made
Than they are to their virtues, which is nothing.

Act II, Scene iv

Post 2.6.2016.6

Cloten: ... 'Tis gold
Which buys admittance; oft it doth, yea, and makes
Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up
Their deer to the stand o' the stealer; and 'tis gold
Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief.
Nay, sometimes hangs both thief and true man.  What
Can it not do and undo?

Act II, Scene iii

Post 2.6.2016.5

Iachimo: (Aside) All of her that is out of door most rich!
If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,
She is alone the Arabian bird, and I
Have lost the wager.

Act I, Scene vi

Post 2.6.2016.4

Imogen: ...but most miserable
Is the desire that's glorious: bless'd be those,
How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,
Which seasons comfort.

Act I, Scene vi

Post 2.6.2016.3

Queen: I'll tell thee on the instant thou art then
As great as is thy master; greater, for
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
Is at last gasp; return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is; to shift his being
Is to exchange one misery with another,
And every day that comes comes to decay
A day's work in him.

Act I, Scene v

Post 2.6.2016.2

First Lord: Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her
brain go not together; she's a good sign, but I have seen
small reflection in her wit.
Second Lord (aside): She shines not upon fools, lest the
reflection should hurt her.

Act I, Scene ii

Post 2.6.2016.1

Cymbeline: Nay, let her languish
A drop of blood a day; and, being aged,
Die of this folly!

Act I, Scene i

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Post 12.6.2014.5

Charmian:  In this vile world?  So, fare thee well.
Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparallel'd.  Downy windows, close;
And golden Phoebus never be beheld
Of egos again so royal!  Your crown's awry;
I'll mend it, and then play.

Act V, Scene 2

Post 12.6.2014.4

Charmian:  Disolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say,
The gods themselves do weep.

Act V, Scene 2

Post 12.6.2014.3

Cleopatra:  Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
Immortal longings in me; now no more
The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip.
Yare, Yare, good Iras; quick.  Methinks I hear
Antony call; I see him rouse himself
To praise my noble act; I hear him mock
The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men
To excuse their after wrath: husband, I come:
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life.  So; have you done?
come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.

Act V, Scene 2

Post 12.6.2014.2

Agrippa:  A rarer spirit never
Did steer humanity; but you, gods, will give us
Some faults to make us men.

Act V, Scene 1

Post 12.6.2014.1

Dercetas:  I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead.
Caesar:  The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack; the round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens.  The death of Antony
Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world.

Act V, Scene 1

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Post 11.23.2014.11

Cleopatra:  Patience is sottish, and impatience does
Become a dog that's mad; then is it sin
To rush into the secret house of death,
Ere death dare come to us?

Act IV, Scene 15

Post 11.23.2014.10

Cleopatra:  Noblest of men, woo't die?
Hast thou no care of me?  Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a sty?  O!  See, my women,
The crown o' the earth doth melt.  My lord!
O!  wither'd is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n; youn boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.

Act IV, Scene 15

Post 11.23.2014.9

Antony:  I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
I here importune death awhile, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips.

Act IV, Scene 15

Post 11.23.2014.8

Cleopatra:  O sun!
Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in; darkling stand
The varying star o' the world.  O Antony,

Act IV, Scene 15

Post 11.23.2014.7

Eros: My dear master,
My captain, and my emperor, let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.

Act IV, Scene 14

Post 11.23.2014.6

Antony:  Come, then; for with a wound I must be cur'd.
Draw thy honest sword, which thoy hast worn
Most useful for thy country.

Act IV, Scene 14

Post 11.23.2014.5

Antony:  My good knave, Eros, now thy captian is
Even such a body:  here I am Antony;
Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave.
I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine,
Which whilst it was mind had annex'd unto't
A million more, now lost; she, Eros, has
Peak'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory
Unto an enemy's triumph.
Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us
Ourselves to end ourselves.

Act IV, Scene 14

Post 11.23.2015.4

Enobarbus:  O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me; throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault,
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
And finish all fool thoughts.  O Antony!
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular;
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and fugitive.

Act IV, Scene 9

Post 11.23.2014.3

Enobarbus:  Be witness to me, O though blessed moon,
When men revolted shall upon record
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did
Before thy face repent!

Act IV, Scene 9

Post 11.23.2014.2

Antony:  What, girl!  though grey
Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet ha'
   we
A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can
Get goal for goal of youth.  Behold this man;
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand:
Kiss it, my warrior: he hath fought to-day
As if a god, in hate of mankind, had
Destroy'd in such a shape.

Act IV, Scene 8

Post 11.23.2014.1

Caesar:  He calls me boy, and chides as he had power
To beat me out of Egypt; my messenger
He hath whipp'd with rods; dares me to personal com-
  bat,
Caesar to Antony.  Let the old ruffian know
I have many other ways to die; meantime
Laugh at his challenge.

Act IV, Scene 1

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Post 11.22.2014.12

Antony:  ... The next time I do fight
I'll make death love me, for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.11

Enobarbus: (Aside)  'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp
Than with an old one dying.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.10

Antony:  Approach, there!  Ah, you kite!  Now, gods and devils!
Authority melts from  me; of late, when I cried 'Ho!'
Like boys unto a muss, Kings would start forth,
And cry, 'Your will?'  Have you no ears?  I am
Antony yet.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.9

Cleopatra:  He is a god, and knows
What is most right.  Mine honour was not yielded,
But conquer'd merely.
Enobarbus: (Aside) To be sure of that,
I will ask Antony.  Sir, sir, thou'rt so leaky
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee.                             Exit.

Post 11.22.2014.8

Enobarbus: (Aside) Mine honesty and I begin to square.
The loyalty well held to fools does make
Our faith mere folly; yet he that can endure
To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord
Does conquer him that did his master conquer,
And earns a place i' the story.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.7

Enobarbus: (Aside) Yes, like enough, high-battled Caesar will
Unstate his happiness, and be stay'd to the show
Against a sworder!  I see men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike.  That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will
Answer his emptiness!  Caesar, thou hast subdu'd
His judgment too.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.6

Cleopatra:  What shall we do, Enobarbus?
Enobarbus:  Think, and die.

Act III, Scene 13

Post 11.22.2014.5

Antony:  Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates
All that is won and lost.  Give me a kiss;
Even this repays me.  We sent our school master;
Is he come back?  Love, I am full of lead.
Some wine, within there, and our viands! Fortune knows
We scorn her most when most she offers blows.

Act III, Scene 11

Post 11.22.2014.4

Antony:  Egypt, thou knew'st too well
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings,
And thou shouldst tow me after; o'er my spirit
Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

Act III, Scene 11

Post 11.22.2014.3

Antony: O! Whither hast thou led me Egypt?  See,
How I convey my shame out of thine eyes
By looking back what I have left behind
'Stry'd in dishonour.

Act III, Scene 11

Post 11.22.2014.2

Antony:  I have offended reputation,
A most unnoble swearing.

Act III, Scene 11

Post 11.22.2014.1

Antony:  Hark!  The land bids me tread no more upon't;
It is asham'd to bear me.  Friends, come hither:
I am so lated in the world that I
Have lost my way for ever.

Act III, Scene 11

Friday, November 21, 2014

Post 11.21.2014.12

Enobarbus:  I'll yet follow
The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against me.

Act III, Scene 10

Post 11.21.2014.11

Scarus:  The greater cantle of the world is lost
with very ignorance; we have kiss'd away
Kingdoms and provinces.

Act III, Scene 10

Post 11.21.2014.10

Octavia: ...Wars 'twixt you twain would be
As if the world should cleave, and that slain men
Should solder up the rift.

Act III, Scene 4

Post 11.21.2014.9

Lepidus:  Let all the number of the stars give light
To thy fair way!

Act III, Scene 2

Post 11.21.2014.8

Ventidius:  O Silius, Silius!
I have done enough; a lower place, note well,
May make too great and act; for learn this, Silius,
Better to leave undone than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away.
Caesar and Antony have ever won
More in their officer than person; Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour,
Who does i' the wars mor ethan his captain can
Become his captain's captain; and ambition,
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss
Than gain which darkens him.
I could do more to do Antonius good,
But would offend him; and in his offene
Should my performance perish.

Act III, Scene 1

Post 11.21.2014.7

Caesar:  Let me request you off; our graver business
Frowns at this levity.  Gentle lords, let's part;
You see we have burnt our cheeks; strong Enobarb
Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks; the wild disguise hath almost
Antick'd us all.  What needs more words?  Good-night.

Act II, Scene 7

Post 11.21.2014.6

Antony:  Come, let's all take hands,
Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense
In soft and delicate Lethe.

Act II, Scene 7

Post 11.21.2014.5

Pompey:  Ah! this thou shouldst have done,
And not have spoke on't.  In me 'tis villany;
In thee 't had been good service.  Thou must know
'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour, it.  Repent that e'er thy tongue
Hath so betray'd thine act; being done unknown,
I should have found it afterwards well done,
But must condemn it now.  Desist, and drink.
Menas: (Aside) For this,
I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.
Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more.

Act II, Scene 7

Post 11.21.2014.4

Enobarbus:  I think so too; but you shall find the band that
seems to tie their friendship together will be the very
strangler of their amity.

Act II, Scene 6

Post 11.21.2014.3

Menas:  For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a drinking.
Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune.
Enobarbus:  If he do, sure, he cannot weep it back again.

Act II, Scene 6

Post 11.21.2014.2

Menas:  All men's faces are true, whatsoe'er their hands are.

Act II, Scene 6

Post 11.21.2014.1

Pompey:  Well, I know not
What counts harsh Fortune casts upon my face,
But in my bosom shall she never come
To make my heart her vassal.

Act II, Scene 6

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Post 11.20.2014.11

Cleopatra:  Some innocents 'scape not the thunderbolt.
Melt Egypt into Nile! and kindly creatures
Turn all to serpents!

Act II, Scene 5

Post 11.20.2014.10

Cleopatra:  Give me some music; music, moody food
Of us that trade in love.

Act II, Scene 5

Post 11.20.2014.9

Antony:  I will to Egypt;
And though I make this marriage for my peace,
I' the east my pleasure lies.

Act II, Scene 3

Post 11.20.2014.8

Soothsayer:  If thou dost play with him at any game
Thou art sure to lose, and, of that natural luck,
He beats thee 'gainst the odds; thy lustre thickens
When he shines by.  I say again, thy spirit
Is all afraid to govern thee near him,
But he away, 'tis noble.

Act II, Scene 3

Post 11.20.2014.7

Enobarbus:  Never; he will not:
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.6

Enobarbus:  Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,
Invited her to supper; she replied
It should be better he became her guest,
Which she entreated.  Our courteous Antony,
Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak,
Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast,
And, for his ordinary pays his heart
For what his eyes eat only.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.5

Enobarbus:  Ay, sir; we did sleep day out of countenance,
and made the night light with drinking.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.4

Agrippa:  By this marriage,
All little jealousies which now seem great,
And all great fears which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing; truths would be but tales
Where no half-tales be truths; her love to both
Would each to other and all loves to both
Draw after her.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.3

Enobarbus:  That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.2

Antony:  Neglected, rather;
And then, when poison'd hours had bound me up
From mine own knowledge.  As nearly as I may,
I'll play the penitent to you; but mine honesty
Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power
work without it.

Act II, Scene 2

Post 11.20.2014.1

Enobarbus:  Every time
Serves for the matter that it is then born in't.

Act II, Scene 2

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Post 11.19.2014.20

Pompey:  But all the charms of love,
Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip!
Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both!
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
Keep his brain fuming; Epicurean cooks
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite,
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his  honour
Eve till a Lethe'd dulness!

Act II, Scene 1

Post 11.19.2014.19

Pompey:  If the great gods be just, they shall assist
The deeds of justest men.
Menecrates:  Know, worthy Pompey,
That what they do delay, they not deny.
Pompey:  Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decay,
The thing we sue for.
Menecrates:  We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; So find we profit
By losing our prayers.

Act II, Scene 1

Post 11.19.2014.18

Cleopatra:  My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then!

Act I, Scene 5

Post 11.19.2015.17

Cleopatra:  What! Was he sad or merry?
Alexas:  Like to the time o' the year between the extremes
Of hot and cold; he was nor sad nor merry.

Act I, Scene 5

Post 11.19.2014.16

Cleopatra:  ... Now I feed myself
With most delicious poison.

Act I, Scene 5

Post 11.19.2014.15

Caesar:  I should have known no less.
It hath been taught us from the primal state,
That he which is was wish'd until he were;
And the ebb'd man, ne'er fou'd till ne'er worht love,
Comes dear'd by being lack'd.  This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion.

Act I, Scene 4

Post 11.19.2014.14

Caesar:  you shall find there
A man who is the abstract of all faults
That all men follow.

Act I, Scene 4

Post 11.19.2014.13

Cleopatra:  I prithee, turn aside and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears
Belong to Egypt: good now, play one scene
Of excellent dissembling, and let it look
Like perfect honour.

Act I, Scene 3

Post 11.19.2014.12

Cleopatra: Bud bid farewell, and go: when you su'd staying
Then was the time for words; no going then:
Eternity was in our lips and eyes,
Bliss in our brows bent; none of our parts so poor
But was a race of heaven; they are so still,
Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world,
Art turn'd the greatest liar.

Act I, Scene 3

Post 11.19.2014.11

Charmian: In time we hate that which we often fear.

Act I, Scene 3

Post 11.19.2014.10

Enobarbus:  If there were no more women
but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to
be lamented: this grief is crowned with consolation; your
old smock brings forth a new petticoat; and indeed the
tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.9

Antony: I must from this enchanting queen break off;
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,
My idleness doth hatch.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.8

Antony: These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Or lose myself in dotage.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.7

Antony: Things that are past are done with me.  'Tis thus:
Who tells me true, though in his tale lay death,
I hear him as he flatter'd.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.6

Iras: Amen.  Dear goddess, hear that prayer of the people!
For, as it is heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-
wived, so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave un-
cockolded: therefore, dear Isis, keep decorum, and for-
tune him accordingly!

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.5

Enobarbus: Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, shall
be, --drunk to bed.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.4

Soothsayer: In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read.

Act I, Scene 2

Post 11.19.2014.3

Philo: Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony,
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony.

Act I, Scene 1

Post 11.19.2014.2

Antony: Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the rang'd empire fall!  Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man; the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair                Embracing
And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.

Act I, Scene 1

Post 11.19.2014.1

Cleopatra: If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
Antony: There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Act I, Scene 1

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Post 10.28.2014.3

Othello:  Where should Othello go?
Now how dost thou look now?  O ill-sarr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it.  Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity.
O! cursed, cursed slave.  Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 5, Scene 2

Post 10.28.2014.2

Othello:  Behold!  I have a weapon;
A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That with this little arm, and this good sword,
I have made my way thorugh more impediments
Than twenty times your stop: but, o vain boast!
Who can control his fate?  'tis not so now.

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 5, Scene 2

Post 10.28.2014.1

Othello:  Put out the light, and then put out the light;
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
I know not where is that promethean heat
That can thy light relume.  When I have pluck'd the rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It needs must wither:  I'll smell it on the tree.

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 5, Scene 2

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Post 10.8.2014.11

Roderigo: I have no great devotion to the deed;
And yet he has given me satisfying reasons:
'Tis but a man gone: forth, my sword; he dies.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1

Post 10.8.2014.10

Desdemona: Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
Emilia: The world is a huge thing; 'tis a great price
For a small vice.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 4, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.9

Othello: Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 4, Scene 2

Post 10.8.2014.8

Othello:  If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

Post 10.8.2014.7

Iago: O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world!
To be direct and honest is not safe.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 3, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.6

Othello:  I swear 'tis better to be much abus'd
Than but to know't a little.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 3, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.5

Iago: O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the grean-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O! what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet soundly loves!


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 3, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.4

Iago: Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
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, the Moor of Venice, Act 3, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.3

Casio: I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so
good a commander with so slight, so drunken and so in-
discreet and officer.  Drunk! and speak parrot! and squab-
ble, swagger, swear, and discourse fustian with one's own
shadow! O thou invisible spirit of wine! if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
...
I remember a mass of things, but nothing dis-
tinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore.  O God!  That
men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away
their brains; that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel,
and applause, transform ourselves into beasts.
...
It hath pleased the devil drunkness to give place
to the devil wrath; one unperfectness shows me another,
to make me frankly despise myself.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 2, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.2

Casio: Reputation, reputation, reputation! O! I have lost
my reputation.  I have lost the immortal part of myself,
and what remains is bestial.


Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 2, Scene 3

Post 10.8.2014.1

Iago: But men are men; the best some times forget:

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 2, Scene 3

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Post 10.7.2014.6

Casio: Not tonight, good Iago: I have very poor and un-
happy brains for drinking: I could well wish courtesy
would invent some other custom of entertainment.

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 2, Scene 3

Post 10.7.2014.5

Iago: Lechery, by this hand! an index and obscure pro-
logue to the history of lust and foul thoughts.

Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act 2, Scene 1

Post 10.7.2014.4

Iago: Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
You'd have enough.

Othello, the Moor of Venice Act 2, Scene 1

Post 10.7.2014.3

Iago:  There are many events in the womb of time which
will be delivered.

Othello, The Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 2

Post 10.7.2014.2

Iago: Virtue! A fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus, or
thus.  Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills
are gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles or sow let-
tuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one
gender of herbs or distract it with many, either to have it
sterile with idleness or manured with industry, why, the
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.  If
the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to
poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our
natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclu-
sions; but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our
carnal stings, or unbitted lusts, where of I take this that
you call love to be a sect or scion.

Othello, The Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 2

Post 10.7.2014.1

Brabantio: But words are words; I never yet did hear
That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.

Othello, The Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 2

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Post 10.2.2014.9

Duke: When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserv'd when Fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief,
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

Othello the Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 2

Post 10.2.2014.8

Othello:  And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke.
That my youth suffer'd.  My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

Othello the Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3

Post 10.2.2014.7

Brabantio:  Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds
By what you see them act.

Othello the Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1

Post 10.2.2014.6

Iago:  I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter
and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

Othello the Moor of Venice, Act I, Scene I

Post 10.2.2014.5

Iago: ...mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his scholarship.

Othello The Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1

Post 10.2.2014.4

Albany:  The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3

Post 10.2.2014.3

Cordelia: All bless'd secrets,
All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth,
Spring with my tears! be ardant and remediate
In the good man's distress!  Seek, seek for him,
Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the life
That wants the means to end it.

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 4

Post 10.2.2014.2

Albany:  Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile;
Filths savour but themselves.

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2

Post 10.2.2014.1

Albany: O Goneril!
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face.

King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Post 10.1.2014.1

Cornwall:  Though well we may not pass upon his life
without the form of justice, yet our power
shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
may blame but not control.

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Post 9.27.2014.10

Edgar: When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.
Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind,
Leaving free things and happy shows behind;
But then the mind much sufferance doth o'er-skip,
When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.
How light and portable my pain seems now,
When that which makes me bend makes the king bow;

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 6

Post 9.27.2014.9

Edgar:  Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an angler
in the lake of darkness.  Pray, innocent, and beware the
foul fiend.

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4

Post 9.27.2014.8

Lear: Thou think'st much that this contentious storm
Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee;
But where the greater malady is fix'd,
The lesser is scarce felt.  Thou'dst shun a bear;
But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea,
Thou'dst meet the bear i' the mouth.  When the mind's
free
The body's delicate; the tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else
Save what beats there.

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4

Post 9.27.2014.7

Reagan:  O! sir, to witful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters.

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 5

Post 9.27.2014.6

Lear: And let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks!  No, you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both
That all the world shall -- I will do such things, --
What they are yet I know not, -- but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.  You think I'll weep;
No, I'll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping, but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I'll weep.  O fool!  I shall go mad.

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 5

Post 9.27.2014.5

Kent: That such a slave as this should wear a sword,
Who wears no honesty.  Such smiling rogues as these,
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain
Which are too intrinse t'unloose; smooth every passion
That in the natures of their lords rebel;
Bring oil to fire, snow to their colder moods,
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters,
Knowing nought, like dogs, but following.
A plague upon your epileptic visage!

King Lear, Act I, Scene 5

Post 9.27.2014.4

Fool: Thou shouldst not have been old before thou hadst
been wise.

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 5

Post 9.27.2014.3

Albany: How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell:
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.

King Lear, Act I, Scene 4

Post 9.27.2014.2

Fool:

Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest;
Love thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more
Than two tens to a score.

King Lear, Act I, Scene 4

Post 9.27.2014.1

Edmund: Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit:
All with me's meet that I can fashion fit.

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2

Post 9.26.2014.4

Edmund: This is the excellent foppery of the world; that,
when we are sick in fortune, -- often the surfeit of
our own behaviour, -- we make guilty of our disasters
the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were
villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves,
thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance,
drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience
of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by
a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion of
whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the
charge of a star!

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2

Friday, September 26, 2014

Post 9.26.2014.3

Gloucester: We have seen the best of our time:
machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all
ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our
graves.

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2

Post 9.26.2014.2

Cordelia: Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides;
Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.

King Lear,  Act 1, Scene 1

Post 9.26.2014.1

Kent: Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad.  What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have deed to speak
When power to flattery bows?  To plainness honour's
bound
When majesty falls to folly.

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Post 10.27.2013.41


Hamlet:  O God!  Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me.
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

Post 10.27.2013.40


Hamlet:  And prais’d be rashness for it, let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well
When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us
There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.

Post 10.27.2013.39


Hamlet:  Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew and dog will have his day.

Post 10.37.2013.38


Hamlet:  I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For though I splenitive and rash
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear.  Away thy hand!

Post 10.27.2013.37


Queen: Sweets to the sweet: farewell!

Post 10.27.2013.36


Hamlet:  To what base uses we may return, Horatio!  Why
May not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander,
Till he find it stopping a bung-hole?

Post 10.27.2013.35


Hamlet: …Alas! Poor Yor-
Ick.  I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most
Excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thou-
Sand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination
It is!  My gorge rises at it.  Here hung those lips that I
Have kissed I know not how oft.  Where be your gibes
Now?  Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merri-
Ment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?  Not one
Now, to mock your own grinning?  Quite chapfallen?  Now
Get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint
An inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her
Laugh at that.

Post 10.27.2013.34


Hamlet:  That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once;
How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s
Jaw-bone, that did the first murder!

Post 10.27.2013.33


First Clown (sings)
     But age, with his stealing steps,
          Hath claw’d me in his clutch,
     And hath shipped me intil the land,
          As if I had never been such.

Post 10.27.2013.32


Hamlet: ‘Tis e’en so; the hand of little employment hath
The daintier sense.

Post 10.27.2013.31


King: There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of kick or snuff that will abate it,
And nothing is at a like goodness still,
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too-much.  That we would do,
We should do when we would, for this ‘would’ changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents:
And then this ‘should’ is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing.

Post 10.27.2013.30


Laertes: How came he dead?  I’ll not be juggled with.
To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation.  To this point I stand,
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I’ll be reveng’d
Most thoroughly for my father.

Post 10.27.2013.29


King: … poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgement,
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts:

Post 10.27.2013.28


Hamlet: … How stand I then,
That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O! from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

Post 10.27.2013.27


Hamlet:  How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge!  What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed?  A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unus’d.  Now, whe’r it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought, which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom,
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do’;
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do’t.

Post 10.27.2013.26


Hamlet:  Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a cer-
Tain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him.  Your
Worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures
Else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat
King and your lean beggar is but variable service; two
Dishes, but to one table: that’s the end.

Post 10.27.2013.25


King:  My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Post 10.27.2013.24


King: In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence’s gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft ‘tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law; but ‘tis not so above;

Post 10.27.2013.23


Hamlet:  ‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.

Post 10.27.2013.22


Rosencrantz:  Good my lord, what is your cause of dis-
Temper?  You surely bar the door upon your own lib-
Erty, if you deny your griefs to your friend.