This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; And to do that well craves a kind of wit: He must observe their mood on whom he jests, The quality of persons, and the time, And, like the haggard, check at every feather That comes before his eye. This is a practise As full of labour as a wise man's art For folly that he wisely shows is fit; But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit.
William ShakespeareI see, sir, you are liberal in offers. You taught me first to beg, and now methinks You teach me how a beggar should be answered.
William ShakespeareHaply for I am black, And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have; or for I am declined Into the vale of yearsโyet thatโs not muchโ Sheโs gone. I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage, That we can call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapor of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For othersโ uses. Yet โtis the plague of great ones; Prerogatived are they less than the base. โTis destiny unshunnable, like death.
William Shakespeare