Renaissance
William Shakespeare
1564–1616
Playwright and poet
He wrote for a playing company, which means the lines had to be sayable by a person standing in daylight. A few of them have been promoted into wisdom. They are better read as belonging to the character who has to live them.
In the canon
- Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar.
- Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
- To be, or not to be, that is the question.
- Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
- Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time.