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
Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek, a white beard, a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind short, your chin double, your wit single, and every part about you blasted with antiquity?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of aging and the physical decline that comes with it.
William Shakespeare's quote highlights the various signs of aging that affect the body and spirit. Through a series of vivid descriptions, he prompts the listener to acknowledge the physical changes they may be experiencing, suggesting that aging is an inescapable part of life that brings about reflection on one's vitality and youthful vigor compared to their current state.
Themes
AgingReflectionDeclineVitalityMortalityAntiquity
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on aging, one could use this quote to illustrate the physical changes we all face over time.
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 think what's really happening is that a dialogue opens up between the ego and these larger, more integrated parts of the psyche that are normally hidden from view.
Terence MckennaRead
The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.
Mother AngelicaRead
For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
People are looking for a simplicity in their fictional worlds where good and evil are clearly delineated, that you can't find in the real world, and that provides an enormous comfort - and that, I think, has an awful lot to do with the reason fantasy is so popular.
Robert J. SawyerRead
A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the study of so vast a subject. A time will come when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them.
Seneca The YoungerRead
The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.
W. Somerset MaughamRead