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
My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel; I know not where I am nor what I do.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the confusion and chaos of the speaker's thoughts and existence.
In this quote, Shakespeare conveys a sense of disorientation and uncertainty, likening the unpredictability of his mind to the spinning of a potter's wheel. The powerful imagery suggests that the speaker feels lost and lacks control over their own thoughts and actions, mirroring the complexities of the human condition and the struggle to find clarity in moments of turmoil.
In practice
In a speech about the creative process, one could use this quote to illustrate the chaotic nature of inspiration.
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.
Thus Carol hit upon the tragedy of old age, which is not that it is less vigorous than youth, but that it is not needed by youth.
Nothing will change the fact that I cannot produce the least thing without absolute solitude.
To come to know that nothing is good, nothing is bad, is a turning point; it is a conversion. You start looking in; the outside reality loses meaning. The social reality is a fiction, a beautiful drama; you can participate in it, but then you donβt take it seriously. It is just a role to be played; play it as beautifully, as efficiently, as possible. But donβt take it seriously, it has nothing of the ultimate in it.
For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other religious history β perhaps like no other book in any religious history- and still, it stands.
Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you. And you musn't waste your time looking for them. Once a thing is gone, that is the end of it.
If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.
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