Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a spleen read more

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say, Behold! The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion. -A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.

You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life When read more

You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life When you do take the means whereby I live. -The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd Showed like a stubble-land at harvest-home; He was perfumed like a read more

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd Showed like a stubble-land at harvest-home; He was perfumed like a milliner, And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held A pouncet-box, which ever and anon He gave his nose and took 't away again. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3.

The eftest way. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act iv. Sc. 2.

The eftest way. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act iv. Sc. 2.

I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you, an 't were any nightingale. -A read more

I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you, an 't were any nightingale. -A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 2.

Now you who rhyme, and I who rhyme,
Have not we sworn it, many a time,
That read more

Now you who rhyme, and I who rhyme,
Have not we sworn it, many a time,
That we no more our verse would scrawl,
For Shakespeare he had said it all!

No man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger. -King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.

No man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger. -King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.

His heart and hand both open and both free; For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows; Yet read more

His heart and hand both open and both free; For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows; Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty. -Troilus and Cressida. Act iv. Sc. 5.

Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, read more

Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? -King Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 2.