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
Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions litter’d in one day, and I the elder and more terrible.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the true danger comes from those who have power and experience, rather than the external threats themselves.
In this quote, Shakespeare illustrates a profound reflection on power dynamics and the nature of danger. Here, one lion acknowledges that he is more fearsome than danger itself, indicating that the greatest threats often come from those who hold authority and experience, rather than from the challenges they face. This highlights the distinction between individuals who merely embody danger and those who can manifest true peril through their actions and wisdom.
Themes
DangerPowerWisdomAuthorityFear
In practice
Example use cases
During a leadership seminar, discussing the nature of danger and authority in decision-making.
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
We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos.
D. H. LawrenceRead
Man, when living, is soft and tender; when dead, he is hard and tough. All animals and plants when living are tender and delicate; when dead they become withered and dry. Therefore it is said: the hard and tough are parts of death; the soft and tender are parts of life.
LaoziRead
I thought to myself that he contained a whole universe that I had yet to know.
Patti SmithRead
I know how young black men are seen. They're boys - scared little boys, oftentimes. I was one of them. I was completely afraid of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Kehinde WileyRead
And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.
Terry PratchettRead
Now I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social and political evil.
Abraham LincolnRead