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
True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dreams often stem from imagination and idleness, reflecting our fantasies rather than reality.
In this quote, Shakespeare expresses a skepticism about dreams, suggesting that they arise from a mind that has wandered too far into idle thoughts. He emphasizes that dreams are mere products of imagination without tangible foundation, pointing out the distinction between aspiration and fantasy.
Themes
DreamsFantasyImaginationIdlenessReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about harnessing creativity and addressing the difference between realistic goals and mere fantasies.
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Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
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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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Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God’s grace and God’s grace alone for our celebration. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people—for beggars. We don’t want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there.
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Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.
H. L. MenckenRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
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Man's life comes from God: it is his image and imprint, as sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: Man cannot do with it as he wills.
Pope John Paul IiRead
I have died in so many spectacular ways, and I remember shooting them all, too. I imagine all those deaths will flash in front of me when I'm on my death bed, faced with the real thing.
John HurtRead