#theater

“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Richard, Act V, scene iv.”

“Off with his head! Richard, Act III, scene iv.”

“Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York. Richard, Act I, scene i.”

“Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare Blese be the man that spares these stones And curst be he that moves my bones Shakespeare's epitaph”

“I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture Shakespeare's will”

“Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care The Passionate Pilgrim : A Madrigal; there is some doubt about the authorship of this.”

“That deep torture may be called a hell, When more is felt than one hath power to tell. The Rape of Lucrece .”

“Time 's glory is to calm contending kings, To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light . The Rape of Lucrece .”

“Beauty itself doth of itself persuade The eyes of men without an orator. The Rape of Lucrece (1594).”

“The Merry Wives of Windsor”

“ἐν τῷ φρονεῖν γὰρ μηδὲν ἥδιστος βίος. In knowing nothing is the sweetest life.”

“ὦ παῖ, γένοιο πατρὸς εὐτυχέστερος, τὰ δ᾿ ἄλλ᾿ ὁμοῖος· καὶ γένοι᾿ ἂν οὐ κακός. Ah, son, may you prove luckier than your father, but in all else like him. Then you would not prove base.”

“χάρις χάριν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τίκτουσ᾿ ἀεί· ὅτου δ᾿ ἀπορρεῖ μνῆστις εὖ πεπονθότος, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτ᾿ ἔθ᾿ οὗτος εὐγενὴς ἀνήρ. For kindness begets kindness evermore, But he from whose mind fades the memory Of benefits, noble is he no more.”

“τῆς ἀναγκαίας τύχης οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν μεῖζον ἀνθρώποις κακόν. Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.”

“ἀλλ᾿ ἢ καλῶς ζῆν ἢ καλῶς τεθνηκέναι τὸν εὐγενῆ χρή. Nobly to live, or else nobly to die, Befits proud birth.”

“Line 293 (tr. R. C. Jebb, 1896) Woman, to women silence is the best ornament.”

“γύναι, γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φέρει. Woman, silence graces woman.”

“τῶν γὰρ μεγάλων ψυχῶν ἱεὶς οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι· κατὰ δ᾿ ἄν τις ἐμοῦ τοιαῦτα λέγων οὐκ ἂν πείθοι. πρὸς γὰρ τὸν ἔχονθ᾿ ὁ φθόνος ἕρπει. καίτοι σμικροὶ μεγάλων χωρὶς σφαλερὸν πύργου ῥῦμα πέλονται. Yea, point thine arrow at a noble spirit, and thou shalt not miss; but should a man speak such things against me, he would win no faith. 'Tis on the powerful that envy creeps. Yet the small without the great can ill be trusted to guard the walls.”

“ὡς ἡμέρα κλίνει τε κἀνάγει πάλιν ἅπαντα τἀνθρώπεια. For a day can humble all human beings, and a day can lift them up.”

“οὔκουν γέλως ἥδιστος εἰς ἐχθροὺς γελᾶν; And to mock at foes”

“The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a refuge from home life. You Never Can Tell , Act II”

“We don't bother much about dress and manners in England, because as a nation we don't dress well and we've no manners. You Never Can Tell , Act I”

“I'm only a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler. I don't like beer. Candida , Act III”

“We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. Candida , Act I”

“Visits to Valhalla: The Ectasy And the Agony”

“My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity . Answers to Nine Questions (September 1896), answers to nine questions submitted by Clarence Rook, who had interviewed him in 1895”

“No public man in these islands ever believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced that it says what he means ; and I have no reason to hope that Mr Coote may be an exception to the rule. "The Living Pictures", The Saturday Review , LXXIX (April 6, 1895), 443; reprinted in Our Theatres in the Nineties (1932). Vol. 1. London: Constable & Co. 79”

“Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it... In The World (18 July 1894), Music in London 1890”

“Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it... In The World”

“Philosophic Radicals ,”

“Theory and Play of the Duende”

“Verte desnuda es recordar la Tierra. To see you naked is to recall the Earth. " Casidas ," IV: Casida de la Mujer Tendida from Primeras Canciones”

“Verde que te quiero verde. Verde viento. Verdes ramas. El barco sobre la mar y el caballo en la montaña. Green, how I want you green. Green wind. Green branches. The ship out on the sea and the horse on the mountain. " Romance Sonámbulo " from Primer romancero gitano”

“τὸν καθ᾿ ἡμέραν βίον λογίζου σόν, τὰ δ᾿ ἄλλα τῆς τύχης. Count the present day thine own, the rest to Fortune yield.”

“βροτοῖς ἅπασι κατθανεῖν ὀφείλεται, κοὐκ ἔστι θνητῶν ὅστις ἐξεπίσταται τὴν αὔριον μέλλουσαν εἰ βιώσεται· τὸ τῆς τύχης γὰρ ἀφανὲς οἷ προβήσεται, κἄστ᾿ οὐ διδακτὸν οὐδ᾿ ἁλίσκεται τέχνῃ. Death is the common debt of man; no mortal really knows if he will live to see the morrow's light; for Fortune's issues are not in our ken, beyond the teacher's rule they lie, no art can master them.”

“κακῶς ἀκούειν οὐ μέλει θανόντι μοι. Dishonour will not trouble me, once I am dead.”

“μάτην ἄρ᾿ οἱ γέροντες εὔχονται θανεῖν, γῆρας ψέγοντες καὶ μακρὸν χρόνον βίου· ἢν δ᾿ ἐγγὺς ἔλθῃ θάνατος, οὐδεὶς βούλεται θνῄσκειν, τὸ γῆρας δ᾿ οὐκέτ᾿ ἔστ᾿ αὐτοῖς βαρύ. Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.”

“κούφα σοι χθὼν ἐπάνωθε πέσοι. Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest.”

“οὐ γάρ τι πρῶτος οὐδὲ λοίσθιος βροτῶν γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἤμπλακες· γίγνωσκε δὲ ὡς πᾶσιν ἡμῖν κατθανεῖν ὀφείλεται. Thou art by no means the first nor yet shalt be the last of men to lose a wife of worth; know this, we all of us are debtors unto death.”

“εἰ δ᾿ Ὀρφέως μοι γλῶσσα καὶ μέλος παρῆν, ὥστ᾿ ἢ κόρην Δήμητρος ἢ κείνης πόσιν ὕμνοισι κηλήσαντά σ᾿ ἐξ ᾌδου λαβεῖν, κατῆλθον ἄν, καί μ᾿ οὔθ᾿ ὁ Πλούτωνος κύων οὔθ᾿ οὑπὶ κώπῃ ψυχοπομπὸς ἂν Χάρων ἔσχ᾿ ἄν, πρὶν ἐς φῶς σὸν καταστῆσαι βίον. Oh, if I had Orpheus ' voice and poetry with which to move the Dark Maid and her Lord, I'd call you back, dear love, from the world below. I'd go down there for you. Charôn or the grim King's dog could not prevent me then from carrying you up into the fields of light.”

“ἐχθρὰ γὰρ ἡ ᾿πιοῦσα μητρυιὰ τέκνοις τοῖς πρόσθ᾿, ἐχίδνης οὐδὲν ἠπιωτέρα. A second wife is hateful to the children of the first, a viper is not more hateful.”

“οὔποτε φήσω γάμον εὐφραίνειν πλέον ἢ λυπεῖν. Never say that marriage has more of joy than pain.”

“ἁγὼ οὔτινι θύω πλὴν ἐμοί, θεοῖσι δ᾿ οὔ, καὶ τῇ μεγίστῃ, γαστρὶ τῇδε, δαιμόνων. I sacrifice to no god save myself”