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
Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, Her ashes new-create another heir As great in admiration as herself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the cyclical nature of life and how greatness can be reborn after death.
In this quote, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of the phoenix, a mythical bird that is reborn from its ashes, to convey the idea that even after the loss of a great figure, their legacy and influence continue to inspire new greatness in subsequent generations. The reference to peace not sleeping implies that the impact of this greatness remains eternally active, ensuring that admiration and reverence persist over time.
Themes
RebirthLegacyGreatnessInspirationLife
In practice
Example use cases
During a memorial service to honor a beloved leader's impact on the community.
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
Our paradigm now seems to be: Something terrible happened to us on September 11, and that gives us the right to interpret all future events in a way that everyone else in the world must agree with us. And if they don't, they can go straight to hell.
William J. ClintonRead
Racism is not just slavery and Jim Crow. It is the daily violence that is enacted on our communities each and every day we live in this White supremacist society.
Cori BushRead
While the political right may moralize sex, the political left is doing it with food. Food is becoming extremely moralized nowadays, and a lot of it is ideas about purity, about what you're willing to touch, or put into your body.
Jonathan HaidtRead
Integrity, the choice between what's convenient and what's right.
Tony DungyRead
People must be taken as they are, and we should never try make them or ourselves better by quarreling with them.
Edmund BurkeRead
Not to be born is undoubtedly the best plan of all. Unfortunately, it is within no one's reach.
Emile M. CioranRead