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
He knows what it's like to strut and fret his hour upon the stage and then be heard no more.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of mortality.
In this quote, Shakespeare captures the essence of human existence as a brief performance. It suggests that life is comparable to a theatrical play where individuals take the stage, experience both triumphs and anxieties, and ultimately face the silence of death, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the transient moments we hold dear.
Themes
LifeMortalityTheaterExistenceTransience
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to reflect on lifeβs transient moments.
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
Dreaming of a tomorrow, which tomorrow, will be as distant then as 'tis today.
Lope De VegaRead
Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well, but to find that done to them which they did to others.
Matthew HenryRead
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
Bertrand RussellRead
Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived.
Baruch SpinozaRead
Reason is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing away, change, they do not lie.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
The death of the spirit is the price of progress.
Eric VoegelinRead