This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the graver had read more

This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With Nature, to outdo the life:
Oh, could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face, the print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass;
But since he cannot, reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.

Small have continual plodders ever won Save base authority from others' books. These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights That give read more

Small have continual plodders ever won Save base authority from others' books. These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights That give a name to every fixed star Have no more profit of their shining nights Than those that walk and wot not what they are. -Love's Labour 's Lost. Act i. Sc. 1.

And he that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. -King John. read more

And he that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. -King John. Act iii. Sc. 4.

How now, foolish rheum! -King John. Act iv. Sc. 1.

How now, foolish rheum! -King John. Act iv. Sc. 1.

And if his name be George, I 'll call him Peter; For new-made honour doth forget men's names. -King John. read more

And if his name be George, I 'll call him Peter; For new-made honour doth forget men's names. -King John. Act i. Sc. 1.

The common curse of mankind,—folly and ignorance. -Troilus and Cressida. Act ii. Sc. 3.

The common curse of mankind,—folly and ignorance. -Troilus and Cressida. Act ii. Sc. 3.

The passages of Shakespeare that we most prize were never quoted
until within this century.
- read more

The passages of Shakespeare that we most prize were never quoted
until within this century.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

This bold bad man. -King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 2.

This bold bad man. -King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 2.

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, That fools should be so deep-contemplative; And I did laugh sans intermission An read more

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, That fools should be so deep-contemplative; And I did laugh sans intermission An hour by his dial. -As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.