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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 64

 
 
William Shakespeare. (1564–1616) (continued)
 
678
    An unlesson’d girl, unschool’d, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn. 1
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2.
679
    Here are a few of the unpleasant’st words
That ever blotted paper!
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2.
680
    The kindest man,
The best-condition’d and unwearied spirit
In doing courtesies.
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2.
681
    Thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother. 2
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 5.
682
    Let it serve for table-talk.
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 5.
683
    A harmless necessary cat.
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.
684
    What! wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.
685
    I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground.
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.
686
    I never knew so young a body with so old a head.
          The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.
687
    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.
’T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,
 
Note 1.
It is better to learn late than never.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 864. [back]
Note 2.
Incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim (One falls into Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis).—Phillippe Gualtier: Alexandreis, book v. line 301. Circa 1300. [back]