William Shakespeare Quotes About Slaves

• Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.

  William Shakespeare

  Character, Men, Jewels

  'Othello' (1602-4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 155

• Being your slave what should I do but tend, Upon the hours, and times of your desire? I have no precious time at all to spend; Nor services to do till you require.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Heart, Desire

  Sonnet 57

• The will is infinite and the execution confin'd, the desire is boundless and the act a slave to limit.

  William Shakespeare

  Lust, Desire, Limits

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Troilus and Cressida In Plain and Simple English: A Modern Translation and the Original Version”, p.133, BookCaps Study Guides

• Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan For that deep wound it gives my friend and me; Is't not enough to torture me alone, But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be?

  William Shakespeare

  Sad, Sweet, Heart

  William Shakespeare (2013). “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English”, p.8759, BookCaps Study Guides

• Heaven would that she these gifts should have, and I to live and die her slave.

  William Shakespeare

  Should Have, Heaven, Charity

  William Shakespeare, Isaac Reed (1813). “The Plays of William Shakespeare”, p.223

• What we determine we often break. Purpose is but the slave to memory.

  William Shakespeare

  Determination, Memories, Purpose

• That god forbid, that made me first your slave, I should in thought control your times of pleasure, Or at your hand th' account of hours to crave, Being your vassal bound to stay your leisure.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Heart, Hands

  William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen (2009). “Sonnets and Other Poems”, p.252, Palgrave Macmillan

• Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core, in my heart of heart, as I do thee.

  William Shakespeare

  Passion, Heart, Men

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [76]

• The very instant I saw you, did My heart fly to your service; there resides To make me slave to it. ...mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Giving, Desire

  William Shakespeare, Nicholas Rowe (1823). “Complete dramatic works and miscellaneous poems”, p.9

• When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of outworn buried age; When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed And brass eternal slave to mortal rage; When I have seen the hungry ocean gain Advantage on the kingdom of the shore, And the firm soil win of the watery main, Increasing store with loss and loss with store; When I have seen such interchange of state, Or state itself confounded to decay; Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, That Time will come and take my love away. This thought is as a death which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

  William Shakespeare

  Ocean, Loss, Winning

  William Shakespeare (1973). “Shakespeare’s Sonnets: The Problems Solved”, p.130, Springer

• They are hare-brain'd slaves.

  William Shakespeare

  Sassy, Brain, Slave

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.1139, BookCaps Study Guides

• Base is the slave that pays.

  William Shakespeare

  Slavery, Pay, Slave

  William Shakespeare, T.W. Craik (1995). “King Henry V: Third Series”, p.164, Cengage Learning EMEA

• But as the unthought-on accident is guilty To what we wildly do, so we profess Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies Of every wind that blows.

  William Shakespeare

  Blow, Wind, Chance

  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare The Winter's Tale Act IV, Scene 4, l. 548

• But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool.

  William Shakespeare

  Fool, Slave, Life Time

  'Henry IV, Part 1' (1597) act 5, sc. 4, l. [81]

• Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!
  Thou little valiant, great in villainy!
  Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
  Thou Fortune's champion, that dost never fight
  But where her humorous ladyship is by
  To teach thee safety.

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Humorous, Fighting

  William Shakespeare, George Steevens (1811). “The Plays of William Shakspeare: Accurately Printed from the Text of the Corrected Copy Left by the Late George Steevens. With a Selection of Explanatory and Historical Notes, from the Most Eminent Commentators; a History of the Stage, a Life of Shakespeare, &c.[edited] by Alexander Chalmers”, p.231

• Live loath'd and long,
  Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
  Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears,
  You fools of fortune, trencher friends, time flies
  Cap and knee slaves, vapors, and minute jacks.

  William Shakespeare

  Long, Time Flies, Knees

  William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson (1766). “THE PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.: CONTAINING, TIMON OF ATHENS. TITUS ANDRONICUS. MACBETH. C. MMARCIUS CORIOLANUS. VOLUME the EIGHTH”, p.59

• Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm
  With favour never clasp'd; but bred a dog.

  William Shakespeare

  Dog, Art, Slavery

  William Shakespeare, Edmond Malone (1821). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare: Cymbeline. Timon of Athens”, p.387

• Mechanic slaves
  With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
  Uplift us to the view.

  William Shakespeare

  Uplifting, Views, Hammers

  William Shakespeare, David Bevington (2005). “Antony and Cleopatra”, p.260, Cambridge University Press

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