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
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the desperation and value placed on something that seems trivial in the face of greater loss.
In this famous line from Shakespeare's Richard III, the character King Richard III exclaims that he would trade his kingdom for a horse, highlighting the irony of how a seemingly minor need becomes crucial when one is in a desperate situation. It speaks to the idea that in moments of crisis, priorities can shift dramatically, revealing the true value of what one truly needs versus what one possesses.
Themes
DesperationValueCrisisNeedSacrifice
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of facing challenges, one might quote this line to illustrate the urgency of acting in dire situations.
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
Die happily and look forward to taking up a new and better form. Like the sun, only when you set in the west can you rise in the east.
RumiRead
We should realize in a vivid and revolutionary sense that we are not in our bodies but our bodies are in us.
Ruth St. DenisRead
The church is not a political power; it's not a party, but it's a moral power.
Pope Benedict XviRead
To be able to rise from the earth; to be able, from a station in outer space, to see the relationship of the planet earth to other planets; to be able to contemplate the billions of factors in precise and beautiful combination that make human existence possible; to be able to dwell on an encounter of the human brain and spirit with the universe
Norman CousinsRead
For every crime that comes before him, a judge is required to complete a perfect syllogism in which the major premise must be the general law; the minor, the action that conforms or does not conform to the law; and the conclusion, acquittal or punishment. If the judge were constrained, or if he desired to frame even a single additional syllogism, the door would thereby be opened to uncertainty.
Cesare BeccariaRead
Beware of the man who has no enemies.
Edward AbbeyRead