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
ROMEO There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murders in this loathsome world, Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none. Farewell: buy food, and get thyself in flesh. Come, cordial and not poison, go with me To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the destructive nature of greed and the moral dilemmas tied to human desires.
In this excerpt from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', Romeo reflects on the corrupting power of greed, suggesting that the gold he offers is more poisonous to people's souls than the literal poison he seeks. It speaks to the idea that wealth and material desires can lead to moral decay and violence, suggesting that the true danger lies not in the objects people sell, but in the intentions and consequences behind those desires.
In practice
In a discussion about the dangers of materialism, one might quote this to emphasize the moral consequences of greed.
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.
I've never tried to run away from my race. I was born a black man. You know that in your bones as soon as you are able to understand this country... My approach to life about race is, I don't see the difference between black people and white people.
It is a predisposition of human nature to consider an unpleasant idea untrue, and then it is easy to find arguments against it.
My country's main exports are stolen cars and sadness.
Pour out wine till I become a wanderer from myself; for in selfhood and existence I have felt only fatigue.
In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist.
Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals.
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