Past and to come seems best; things present worst. -King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 3.

Past and to come seems best; things present worst. -King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 3.

I was not born under a rhyming planet. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 2.

I was not born under a rhyming planet. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 2.

Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh
To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumont lie
A little nearer read more

Renowned Spenser, lie a thought more nigh
To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumont lie
A little nearer Spenser, to make room
For Shakespeare in your threefold, fourfold tomb.

There 's the humour of it. -The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act ii. Sc. 1.

There 's the humour of it. -The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Give you a reason on compulsion! If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason read more

Give you a reason on compulsion! If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4.

He hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it read more

He hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink. -Love's Labour 's Lost. Act iv. Sc. 2.

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set read more

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I 'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1.

Masters, it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves; and it will go near to be read more

Masters, it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves; and it will go near to be thought so shortly. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act iv. Sc. 2.

Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting Quill
Commandeth Mirth or Passion, was but Will.

Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting Quill
Commandeth Mirth or Passion, was but Will.