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
As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the idea that humans may be treated as mere playthings by powerful forces, highlighting the randomness of suffering.
In this poignant quote by William Shakespeare, the imagery of 'flies to wanton boys' illustrates the fragile and capricious nature of human existence in the eyes of the gods. It suggests that just as boys might kill flies for amusement, the concept of divine beings might imply that human life is subjected to the whims of fate or higher powers, posing deep questions about the meaning of suffering and the indifference of the universe to human struggles.
Themes
LifeFateSufferingGodsIndifference
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the meaning of suffering in literature.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes βLove 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
The process of shaping opinion, attitudes, and perceptions was termed the 'engineering of consent' by one of the founders of the modern public relations industry, Edward Bernays.
Noam ChomskyRead
Do not be deluded by the abstract word Freedom. Whose freedom? Not the freedom of one individual in relation to another, but freedom of Capital to crush the worker.
Karl MarxRead
We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.
Stephen CoveyRead
What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.
Theodor AdornoRead
God is not good, or else he could do better.
Meister EckhartRead
Ask most people who live in a home and have a mortgage on it whether they own their own home and the answer is almost guaranteed to be a resounding 'yes'. Yet it's the wrong answer. Technically speaking, until they have paid the mortgage off, they don't own it. Herein lies the difference between reality and illusion, between ownership and control. This confusion lies not only at the individual level, but also at the heart of government thinking.
Dambisa MoyoRead