The collection / 2,660 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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2,660 results · Page 4 of 111Play this collection ▷

01c. 1590 AD

So curses all Eve's daughters, of what complexion soever.

William Shakespeare / quote

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02c. 1590 AD

This is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. . . . There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.

William Shakespeare / quote

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03c. 1590 AD

Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Both thanks and use.

William Shakespeare / quote

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04c. 1590 AD

He was ever precise in promise-keeping.

William Shakespeare / quote

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05c. 1590 AD

Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home.

William Shakespeare / quote

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06c. 1590 AD

I hold you as a thing ensky'd and sainted.

William Shakespeare / quote

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07c. 1590 AD

A man whose blood Is very snow-broth; one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense.

William Shakespeare / quote

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08c. 1590 AD

He arrests him on it; And follows close the rigour of the statute, To make him an example.

William Shakespeare / quote

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09c. 1590 AD

Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt.

William Shakespeare / quote

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10c. 1590 AD

The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two Guiltier than him they try.

William Shakespeare / quote

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11c. 1590 AD

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

William Shakespeare / quote

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12c. 1590 AD

This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there.

William Shakespeare / quote

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13c. 1590 AD

Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?

William Shakespeare / quote

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14c. 1590 AD

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace As mercy does.

William Shakespeare / quote

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15c. 1590 AD

Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once; And He that might the vantage best have took Found out the remedy. How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are?

William Shakespeare / quote

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16c. 1590 AD

The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.

William Shakespeare / quote

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17c. 1590 AD

O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.

William Shakespeare / quote

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18c. 1590 AD

But man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he 's most assured, His glassy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As make the angels weep.

William Shakespeare / quote

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19c. 1590 AD

That in the captain 's but a choleric word Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

William Shakespeare / quote

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20c. 1590 AD

Our compell'd sins Stand more for number than for accompt.

William Shakespeare / quote

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21c. 1590 AD

The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope.

William Shakespeare / quote

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22c. 1590 AD

A breath thou art, Servile to all the skyey influences.

William Shakespeare / quote

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23c. 1590 AD

Palsied eld.

William Shakespeare / quote

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24c. 1590 AD

The sense of death is most in apprehension; And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies.

William Shakespeare / quote

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