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 Mercutio's soul Is but a little way above our heads, Staying for thine to keep him company: Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the inevitability of death and companionship in the afterlife.
In this quote from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' Mercutio speaks to the transient nature of life and the profound connection between those left behind and those who have passed on. The statement suggests that the bond of companionship extends beyond life itself, emphasizing that if one dies, the other must follow to join their friend in the afterlife, thereby highlighting themes of mortality and friendship.
In practice
This quote can be used in a eulogy to express the idea of companionship in death.
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.
We are served by organic ghosts, he thought, who, speaking and writing, pass through this our new environment. Watching, wise, physical ghosts from the full-life world, elements of which have become for us invading but agreeable splinters of a substance that pulsates like a former heart.
A man sometimes devotes his life to a desire which he is not sure will ever be fulfilled. Those who laugh at this folly are, after all, no more than mere spectators of life.
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
Remembrance is a form of meeting.
Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.
Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names.
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