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
For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the unpredictable and frivolous nature of humanity.
William Shakespeare's observation highlights the whimsical and often irrational behavior of humans. By stating that 'man is a giddy thing,' he suggests that our actions can sometimes be frivolous or driven by fleeting emotions, leading to complex conclusions about our nature and existence.
Themes
Human NatureFrivolityEmotionsExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the unpredictability of life, I quoted Shakespeare: 'For man is a giddy thing.'
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
I laid my face to the smooth face of the marble and howled my loss into the cold salt rain.
Sylvia PlathRead
Iran has little capacity to deploy force. Its strategic doctrines are defensive, designed to deter invasion long enough for diplomacy to set it.
Noam ChomskyRead
All social inequalities which have ceased to be considered expedient, assume the character not of simple inexpediency, but of injustice, and appear so tyrannical, that people are apt to wonder how they ever could have. been tolerated; forgetful that they themselves perhaps tolerate other inequalities under an equally mistaken notion of expediency, the correction of which would make that which they approve seem quite as monstrous as what they have at last learnt to condemn.
John Stuart MillRead
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Michel De MontaigneRead
Why are we designed to see the world as supremely beautiful just as we're about to be snuffed? Do rabbits feel the same as the fox teeth bite down on their necks? Is it mercy?
Margaret AtwoodRead
I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota.
Fran LebowitzRead