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,

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.

Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office, and his tongue Sounds ever after as a read more

Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office, and his tongue Sounds ever after as a sullen bell, Remember'd tolling a departing friend. -King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 1.

Seven hundred pounds and possibilities is good gifts. -The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act i. Sc. 1.

Seven hundred pounds and possibilities is good gifts. -The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act i. Sc. 1.

Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown! What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears! What ugly sights read more

Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown! What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears! What ugly sights of death within mine eyes! Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks, Ten thousand men that fishes gnawed upon, Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scattered in the bottom of the sea: Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept, As 't were in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems. -King Richard III. Act i. Sc. 4.

The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise read more

The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death. -Measure for Measure. Act iii. Sc. 1.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. -All 's Well that Ends Well. read more

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. -All 's Well that Ends Well. Act iv. Sc. 3.

I know a trick worth two of that. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 1.

I know a trick worth two of that. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act ii. Sc. 1.

She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand read more

She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. -The Two Gentleman of Verona. Act ii. Sc. 4.