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
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.
In practice
During a graduation speech to reflect on lifeβs transient moments.
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.
However much you knock at nature's door, she will never answer you in comprehensible words.
What are the stars but points in the body of God where we insert the healing needles of our terror and longing?
We should daily feel a deeper union with Life, a greater sense of that Indwelling God - the God of the seen and of the unseen - within us.
I felt, as I became a later and later bloomer, alienated not just from my own recalcitrant glabrous little body but in a way from the whole elemental exterior I'd come to see as my co-conspirator.
Men are but children of a larger growth, Our appetites as apt to change as theirs, And full as craving too, and full as vain.
Good and evil both increase at compound interest.
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