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Doct. Not so sick, my lord, As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, That keep her from her rest. Macb. Cure her of that. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart? Doct. Therein the patient Must minister to himself. Macb. Throw physic to the dogs: I 'll none of it.

Doct. Not so sick, my lord, As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, That keep her from her rest. Macb. Cure her of that. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart? Doct. Therein the patient Must minister to himself. Macb. Throw physic to the dogs: I 'll none of it.

Approximate author period: c. 1590 AD · renaissance

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
William Shakespeare
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
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Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1590 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint
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Recorded source
Familiar Quotations, ninth edition (1905 printing) (1905 AD)

Macbeth. Act v. Sc. 3.

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William Shakespeare: Historical painted portrait

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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