O, who would live turmoiled in the court,
And may enjoy such quiet walks as these!
I seek not to wax great by others waning,
Or gather wealth, and care not with what envy :
Sufficeth, that I have maintains my state,
And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.

It is great sin to swear unto a sin,
But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.

Didst thou never hear

That things ill got had ever bad success?
I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind.

Alas! methinks it were a happy life

To be no better than a homely swain ;-
So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave!

My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not deck'd with diamonds and Indian stones;
Not to be seen. My crown is call'd content;
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.

Ceremony

Was but devised at first to set a gloss
On false hearts, hollow welcomes;

But where there is true friendship there needs none.

I am not of that feather, to shake off
My friend when he most needs me.

I do love

My country's good, with a respect more tender, More holy and profound, than my own life.

Where is your ancient courage? You were us'd
To say, extremity was the trier of spirits;
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Show'd mastership in floating. You were used to
load me

With precepts, that would make invincible
The heart that conn'd them.

What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye, and death i'the other,
And I will look on both indifferently.

Thou art noble, yet I see
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd! Therefore 'tis meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes,
For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?

When I tell him, he hates flatterers, says, he does ;-being then most flattered.

He

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.

We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good: so find we profit, By losing of our prayers.

Thou hast describ'd

A hot friend cooling.-Ever note,
When love begins to sicken and decay,
It useth an enforced ceremony.

There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.

You are yoked with a lamb,

That carries anger, as the flint bears fire,
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows, and in miseries.

O hateful Error, Melancholy's child,
Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not ?

His life was gentle, and the elements

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,

And say to all the world, This was a man !

He, that can endure

To follow with allegiance a fallen lord,
Does conquer him that did his master conquer,'
And earns a place in story.

'Tis Slander,

Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Out-venoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world. Kings, Queens, and States,
Maids, Matrons; nay, the secrets of the grave,
This viperous Slander enters.

Against self-slaughter

There is a prohibition so divine,
That cravens my weak hand.

I think

Foundations fly the wretched; such at least Where they should be reliev'd. Two beggars

told me

I could not miss my way. Will poor folks lie,
That have afflictions on them ?-Yet, no wonder,
When rich ones scarce tell true; to lapse in fulness,
Is sorer than to lie for need; and falsehood
Is worse in kings than beggars.

Our stomachs

Will make what's homely, savoury. Weariness Can snore upon the flint, when native sloth Finds the down pillow hard.

Are we not brothers ?-So man and man should be;
But clay and clay differs in dignity,
Whose dust is both alike.

Those that I reverence, those I fear;-the wise. At fools I laugh, not fear them.

Kneel not to me.

The power that I have on you, is to spare you; The malice towards you, to forgive you.-Live, And deal with others better.

In peace
and honour rest you here, my sons;
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no inward grudges; here no storms;
In peace and honor rest you here, my sons!

Lose not a noble friend on vain suppose,
Nor with sour looks afflict a gentle heart.

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!

Infirmity doth still neglect all office

Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves, When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind To suffer with the body.