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
If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the nature of reality and fiction, suggesting that life can be more unbelievable than any story.
William Shakespeare's quote highlights the blurred lines between reality and fiction, implying that events in life can often appear so extraordinary that they seem unthinkable even if presented as a story on stage. It emphasizes the unpredictability of human experience and the notion that our lives may be more dramatic than any scripted play.
In practice
Using this quote to discuss the unpredictable nature of life during a philosophical debate.
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).
Love bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
And that's what I don't like about magic, Captain. 'cos it's *magic*. You can't ask questions, it's magic. It doesn't explain anything, it's magic. You don't know where it comes from, it's magic! That's what I don't like about magic, it does everything by magic!
The absence of the will to live is, alas, not sufficient to make one want to die.
It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more then half of the people in the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. We abide the surgeon's scalpel to save our own lives, out loved ones' lives, but not to save a stranger's life. H has no heart, but heartless is the last thing you'd call her.
To be ashamed of one's immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one's morality.
The true foundation of theology is to ascertain the character of God. It is by the aid of Statistics that law in the social sphere can be ascertained and codified, and certain aspects of the character of God thereby revealed. The study of statistics is thus a religious service.
It is usual to think of good and evil as two poles, two opposite directions, the antithesis of one another...We must begin by doing away with this convention.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.