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
We must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Seize opportunities when they arise, or risk missing out on success.
This quote suggests that one should act decisively when the time is right, as opportunities are often fleeting. If we fail to take advantage of favorable circumstances, we may lose the chance to achieve our goals and aspirations, leading to missed ventures and potential regrets.
Themes
OpportunityDecisivenessActionSuccessRisk
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage taking action.
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Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
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Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
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It is important to understand that counterproducti ve actions of body, speech and mind do not arise of their own accord, but spring up in dependence on our motivation. Faulty states of mind give rise to faulty actions. To control negative physical and verbal actions, we need to tame our minds.
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I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship.
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I have lived to see that being seventeen is no protection against becoming seventy, but to know this needs the experience of a lifetime, for no imagination copes with it.
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It's up to brave hearts, sir, to be patient when things are going badly, as well as being happy when they're going well ... For I've heard that what they call fortune is a flighty woman who drinks too much, and, what's more, she's blind, so she can't see what she's doing, and she doesn't know who she's knocking over or who she's raising up.
Miguel De CervantesRead