'Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more'

Had mortality not taken hold, Shakespeare would have been 448 today. What he gave the world in the 52 years he lived was an enduring gift of eloquence and wit. What follows are some of my favorite lines from his plays:

'The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath.
It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.'
Merchant of Venice

'Love is not love
when it is mingled with regards that stand
aloof from the entire point.'
King Lear

'Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill
shall come against him.'
Macbeth

'When our actions do not,
our fears do make us traitors.'
Macbeth

Feste: 'What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild-fowl?
Malvolio: 'That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.'
Twelfth Night


'If we shadows have offended,
think but this, and all is mended,
that you have but slumber'd here
while there visions did appear.'
Midsummer Night's Dream
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I could go on. We all could, I'm sure.
I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.

Happy birthday, Mr Shakespeare.
(Click through the above link to see more good wishes for the Bard.)