William Shakespeare

When a gentlemen is disposed to swear, it is not for any
standers-by to curtail his oaths.

When a gentlemen is disposed to swear, it is not for any
standers-by to curtail his oaths.

Now my soul hath elbow-room. -King John. Act v. Sc. 7.

Now my soul hath elbow-room. -King John. Act v. Sc. 7.

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set read more

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I 'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1.

We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i' th' sun,
And bleat the one at th' other. What read more

We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i' th' sun,
And bleat the one at th' other. What we changed
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dreamed
That any did.

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.