William Shakespeare Quotes About Authority

• Man, proud man, drest in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he's most assur d, glassy essence, like an angry ape, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels weep.

  William Shakespeare

  Angel, Pride, Men

  'Measure for Measure' (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 117

• Though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft let by the nose with gold.

  William Shakespeare

  Liberty, Gold, Noses

• Do you take me for a sponge, my lord? hamlet: Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. rosencrantz: I understand you not, my lord. hamlet: I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Sleep, Apes

• Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? And the creature run from the cur. There thou mightst behold the great image of authority-a dog's obeyed in office.

  William Shakespeare

  Running, Dog, Office

  William Shakespeare, Jay L. Halio (1994). “The First Quarto of King Lear”, p.107, Cambridge University Press

• Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. 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 tine, supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry, why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.

  William Shakespeare

  Weed, Lying, Garden

  William Shakespeare, Gayle Holste (2002). “Othello”, p.68, Barron's Educational Series

• Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves.

  William Shakespeare

  Judging, Thieves, Stealing

  1603 Angelo. Measure for Measure, act 2, sc.2, l.181-2.

• Man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured.

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Ignorant, Proud

  'Measure for Measure' (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 117

• Shall remain! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark you His absolute 'shall'?

  William Shakespeare

  Authority, Mark, Minnows

  'Coriolanus' (1608) act 3, sc. 1, l. 88

• Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offense by weight The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will, On whom it will not, so: yet still 'tis just.

  William Shakespeare

  Heaven, Weight, Pay

  William Shakespeare (2000). “Measure for Measure”, p.42, Penguin

• Merciful heaven, Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man, Dressed in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured His glassy essence--like an angry ape Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens, would all themselves laugh mortal.

  William Shakespeare

  Angel, Men, Essence

  William Shakespeare, N. W. Bawcutt (1998). “Measure for Measure”, p.128, Oxford University Press, USA

• Art made tongue-tied by authority.

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Censorship In Books, Censoring Books

  Sonnet 66

• Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority.

  William Shakespeare

  Patient, Be Patient, Authority

  William Shakespeare, Thomas Dolby (1872). “Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations: Exhibiting the Most Forcible Passages, Illustrative of the Various Passions, Affections and Emotions of the Human Mind”, p.25

• Study is like the heaven's glorious sun, That will not be deep-searched with saucy looks: Small have continual plodders ever won, Save base authority from others' books.

  William Shakespeare

  Book, Heaven, Looks

  'Love's Labour's Lost' (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 84

• I beseech you,
  Wrest once the law to your authority:
  To do a great right, do a little wrong.

  William Shakespeare

  Law, Justice, Littles

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [215]

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