William Shakespeare

Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?

Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?

O Ceremony, show me but thy worth?
What is thy soul of adoration?
Art thou aught else read more

O Ceremony, show me but thy worth?
What is thy soul of adoration?
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?

If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head read more

If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate;
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed;
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater than that.

O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors!
There is betwixt that smile read more

O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors!
There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.

Mocking the air with colours idly spread. -King John. Act v. Sc. 1.

Mocking the air with colours idly spread. -King John. Act v. Sc. 1.