This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the graver had read more

This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With Nature, to outdo the life:
Oh, could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face, the print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass;
But since he cannot, reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.

O Proserpina, For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall From Dis's waggon! daffodils, That come before the swallow read more

O Proserpina, For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall From Dis's waggon! daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried, ere they can behold Bright Phœbus in his strength,—a malady Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one. -The Winter's Tale. Act iv. Sc. 4.

Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy. -Troilus and read more

Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy. -Troilus and Cressida. Act i. Sc. 3.

I was not born under a rhyming planet. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 2.

I was not born under a rhyming planet. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 2.

I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too. -Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 4.

I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too. -Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a spleen read more

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say, Behold! The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion. -A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. -King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. -King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1.

For when did friendship take A breed for barren metal of his friend? -The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. read more

For when did friendship take A breed for barren metal of his friend? -The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

A mad fellow met me on the way and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the read more

A mad fellow met me on the way and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I 'll not march through Coventry with them, that 's flat: nay, and the villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on; for indeed I had the most of them out of prison. There 's but a shirt and a half in all my company; and the half-shirt is two napkins tacked together and thrown over the shoulders like an herald's coat without sleeves. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 2.