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
O, how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame.
Interpretation
The speaker feels inadequate when comparing themselves to the person they admire.
In this quote, Shakespeare expresses the feeling of being overwhelmed by admiration for someone so great that it leaves the speaker at a loss for words. The acknowledgment of a 'better spirit' suggests that the speaker realizes their own limitations and struggles to articulate the praise that the other person deserves.
In practice
This quote can be used at a tribute speech to honor someone significant in your life.
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).
Love bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
One cannot give what he does not possess. To give love you must possess love. To love others you must love yourself.
I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.
He had been content with daily labour and rough animal enjoyments, 'till Catherine crossed his path. Shame at her scorn, and hope of her approval, were his first prompts to higher pursuits; and, instead of guarding him from one and winning him to the other, his endeavors to raise himself had produced just the contrary result.
One does not kill oneself for love of a woman, but because love - any love - reveals us in our nakedness, our misery, our vulnerability, our nothingness.
A house without a cat is like a day without sunshine, a pie without fromage, a dinner without wine.
Desire, even in its wildest tantrums, can neither persuade me it is love nor stop me from wishing it were.
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