Aphorisms from Shakespeare

1440. GOLD the worst POISONER.

Gold is worse poison to men's souls,

Doing more murthers in this loathsome world, Than any mortal drug.

1441. DESPAIR.

Tempt not a desperate man.

1442. PATIENCE.

Let mischance be slave to Patience.

OTHELLO.

1443. MASTERS.

We cannot all be Masters: and all Masters
Cannot be truly follow'd.

1444. WEAPONS; defective better than none. Men do their broken weapons rather use Than their bare hands.

1445. CALAMITY when felt to be inevitable better borne.

When remedies are past the griefs are ended,
By seeing the worst which late on Hope depended.
1446. COMPLAINT unavailing a source of
perpetual MISERY.

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.

1447. PATIENCE. What cannot be preserv'd when Fortune takes, Patience her injury a mockery makes.

1448. [thief; The robb'd that smiles steals something from the He robs himself that spends a bootless grief. 1449. WORDS; unavailing in extreme SUFFERING. Words are but words: I never yet did hear That the bruis'd heart was pieced thro' the ear.

1450. GENEROSITY naturally unsuspecting. A free and open nature

Doth think men honest that but seem to be so. 1451. CULTIVATION moral.

Our Bodies are our Gardens, to the which our wills are Gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many, either have it steril with idleness or manur'd with industry, why the power and corrigible* authority of this lies in our wills. 1452. LOVE elevates and refines.

Base men being in Love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them. 1453. VILLAINY marks itself. Knavery's plain face is rarely seen 'till us'd. 1454. DISCRETION to be maintained. Let's teach ourselves that honorable stop Not to outsport Discretion.

1455. DRINKING condemned.

It were to be wish'd that courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment than Drinking,

1456.

O that Men will put an Enemy into their Mouths to steal away their Brains!

1457. REPUTATION.

Reputation is oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.

1458.

Good name in Man and Woman

Is the immediate jewel of their souls.

Corrigible for corrective:' as penetrabile' for penetrans' in

VIRGIL.

1459.

Who steals our purse steals trash; 'tis something,

nothing; [sands: 'Twas our's, 'tis his, and has been slave to thouBut he that filches from us our good name Robs us of that which not enriches him, But makes us poor indeed.

1460. HYPOCRISY.

When Devils will the blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows. 1461. PATIENCE.

How poor are they that have not patience. 1462. SINCERITY.

Men should be what they seem.

1463. JEALOUSY-it's Danger and Misery. O beware of Jealousy!

It is the green-eyed Monster which doth make The meat it feeds on.

1464.

Trifles light as air

Are to the jealous confirmations strong

As proofs of holy writ.

1465. SUSPICIONS are moral POISONS. Dangerous conceits are in their nature poisons: Which at the first are scarce found to distaste, But with a little act upon the blood,

Burn like the mines of sulphur.

1466. POVERTY; contented how much happier
than discontented WEALTH.

Poor and content is rich and rich enough;
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.

'Act' here is 'Action."

nicus.]

1467. PROVOCATION; LITTLE Things become such when GREAT go ill.

When the clear Spirit's troubled, in such case
Men's natures wrangle with inferior things,
Though great ones are their object.

1468. CHILDREN-how to be instructed.

Those that do teach young Babes

Do it with gentle means and easy tasks. 1469. GUILT will betray itself.

Guiltiness will speak,

Though tongues were out of use.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

1470. ELECTION should be by MERIT. Let Desert in pure Election shine.

1471. MODESTY the COMPANION of MERIT. Plead your Deserts in peace and humbling. 1472. MERCY and BENEVOLENCE bring as nearest to the DEITY.

Wilt thou draw near the nature of the Gods,
Draw near them then in being merciful.

1473. MERCY.

Sweet Mercy is Nobility's true badge.

1474. DEATH when carnt by VIRTUE IS GLORY. He lives in Fame that died in Virtue's* cause. 1475. GRAVE, the-all human Passions rest there. In the Grave

There lurks no treason; there no envy swells: There grow no damned grudges: there no storms, No noise-but silence, and eternal sleept.

* An Epitaph worthy of General WOLFE or Major PEIRSON. The sentiment and cadence of this exquisite Passage were perhaps In GRAY's mind when he wrote his admirable ELEGY.

Athens.