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
Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of death and the destruction that life encounters.
In this quote, Shakespeare explores the somber realities of life, emphasizing that ultimately, death is an unavoidable fate that overshadows all aspects of existence, including destruction and decay. It captures the idea that while life may be filled with suffering and ruin, death is the final and most significant event that each individual must face.
Themes
DeathLifeInevitabilityDestructionRuin
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a eulogy to highlight the acceptance of death as part of life.
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
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion. This is a truth well understood by our adversaries who have practised upon it with no small benefit to their cause. For at the very moment they are eulogizing the reason of men & professing to appeal only to that faculty, they are courting the strongest & most active passion of the human heart - VANITY!
Alexander HamiltonRead
It is a most fearful fact to think of, that in every heart there is some secret spring that would be weak at the touch of temptation, and that is liable to be assailed. Fearful, and yet salutary to think of; for the thought may serve to keep our moral nature braced. It warns us that we can never stand at ease, or lie down in this field of life, without sentinels of watchfulness and campfires of prayer.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.
Frederic BastiatRead
The practical revolutionary will understand Goethe's 'conscience is the virtue of observers and not of agents of action'; in action, one does not always enjoy the luxury of a decision that is consistent both with one's individual conscience and the good of mankind.
Saul AlinskyRead
Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
When a whole nation is roaring patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and the purity of its heart.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead