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
An angel; or, if not,_x000D_ _x000D_ An earthly paragon.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that a person can either be angelic or exceptionally wonderful in a mortal sense.
In this quote, Shakespeare conveys the idea that individuals can possess either divine qualities or extraordinary human virtues. It emphasizes the notion of beauty and perfection, suggesting that someone can be viewed as angelic due to their virtues or as a paragon—a model of ideal traits—due to their remarkable human qualities.
Themes
AngelParagonBeautyVirtueLove
In practice
Example use cases
When giving a speech about the impact of love, one might quote this to illustrate the extraordinary qualities found in beloved individuals.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes →Love 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
With that strange knowing that comes over me, like a clairvoyance, I know that I am sure of myself and my enormous and alarmingly timeless love for you; which will always be.
Sylvia PlathRead
Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Read
It's also selfish because it makes you feel good when you help others. I've been helped by acts of kindness from strangers. That's why we're here, after all, to help others.
Carol BurnettRead
One thing I've learned in all these years is not to make love when you really don't feel it; there's probably nothing worse you can do to yourself than that.
Norman MailerRead
The counterweight to the dominion of evil can consist in the first place only in the divine-human love of Jesus Christ that is always greater than any possible power of evil.
Pope Benedict XviRead
He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.
C. S. LewisRead