As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
William ShakespeareRead
There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face.
Interpretation
What this quote means
It is difficult to accurately judge a person's thoughts and intentions just by their appearance.
This quote highlights the complexity of human nature and the futility of assuming we can know someone's true thoughts and character based solely on their exterior. Shakespeare suggests that appearances can be deceiving, and understanding a person requires more than just surface observations.
Themes
PerceptionDeceptionUnderstandingHuman NatureAppearance
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on personality traits, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for deeper understanding.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes →Love bears it out even to the edge of doom.
William ShakespeareRead
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
William ShakespeareRead
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
William ShakespeareRead
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
William ShakespeareRead
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
William ShakespeareRead
Similar quotes
Iran has little capacity to deploy force. Its strategic doctrines are defensive, designed to deter invasion long enough for diplomacy to set it.
Noam ChomskyRead
It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.
Margaret J. WheatleyRead
I've never meditated in my life. I don't practice yoga nor any religion. I'm a tourist on the realm of stillness.
Pico IyerRead
Capitalism’s grow-or-die imperative stands radically at odds with ecology’s imperative of interdependence and limit. The two imperatives can no longer coexist with each other; nor can any society founded on the myth that they can be reconciled hope to survive. Either we will establish an ecological society or society will go under for everyone, irrespective of his or her status.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
There have been low moments before, but Christianity is an incredibly adaptable organism, using different parts of its repertoire to mutate into new ecological niches, yet preserving intact its story of grace, of love improbably triumphant.
Francis SpuffordRead
Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
Oscar WildeRead