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
And simple truth miscalled simplicity
Interpretation
Simplicity can often be misunderstood as a lack of depth or complexity.
This quote suggests that what is often perceived as simple can hide deeper truths and complexities that are not immediately evident. It invites the reader to consider that true wisdom and understanding might be found in the nuanced and less obvious interpretations of concepts, rather than in surface-level simplicities.
In practice
During a lecture on complex ideas, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of exploring the depth in seemingly simple concepts.
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.
Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.
But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.
Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.
No one could have fathomed what a life he'd led, for it was chiefly a life lived in his mind.
It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with god.
We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king.
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