“
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
“
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he has Cassius note, ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
“
Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring barque,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Great Sonnets (Dover Thrift Editions))
“
Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night;
Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night...
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
Love is not love which alters it when alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O no! It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out, even to the edge of doom.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Shakespeare's Sonnets)
“
There was a star danced, and under that was I born.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)
“
O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones,
The labor of an age in pilèd stones,
Or that his hallowed relics should be hid
Under a star-y-pointing pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of fame,
What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
”
”
John Milton (The Complete Poetry)
“
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off!
It is my lady. Oh, it is my love.
Oh, that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses. I will answer it.—
I am too bold. 'Tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp. Her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand
That I might touch that cheek!
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune (often the surfeits of our own behavior) we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star! My father compounded with my mother under the Dragon's tail, and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous. I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing.
”
”
William Shakespeare (King Lear)
“
True it is,/ That these are not the droids for which thou search'st.
-Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
I pray thee, sir, forgive me for the mess/And whether I shot first, I'll not confess.
- Han Solo
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
My stars shine darkly over
me
”
”
William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)
“
And to be merry best becomes you; for, out of question, you were born in
a merry hour.
No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there
was a star danced, and under that was I born.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her, she would infect to the north star!
”
”
William Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)
“
Sure, anyone can name fourteen dead people. But we're disorganized mourners, so a lot of people end up remembering Shakespeare, and no one ends up remembering the person he wrote Sonnet Fifty-five about.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
- Be thou not technical with me,/Or else thine input valve may swift receive/a hearty helping of my golden foot.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
O help/ Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, help. Thou art/ Mine only hope.
-Leia Organa
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
I did some research on this a couple years ago," Augustus continued. "I was wondering if everybody could be remembered. Like, if we got organized, and assigned a certain number of corpses to each living person, would there be enough living people to remember all the dead people?"
"And are there?"
"Sure, anyone can name fourteen dead people. But we're disorganized mourners, so a lot of people end up remembering Shakespeare and no one ends up remembering the person he wrote Sonnet Fifty-five about
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
YODA Nay, nay! Try thou not. But do thou or do thou not, For there is no “try.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #5))
“
Were she better, or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
I am the owner of the sphere,
Of the seven stars and the solar year,
of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain,
Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain.
”
”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (History)
“
We're star crossed, Shakespeare. Fateful star-crossed lovers. We have a lifetime to get to know each other, unlike our namesakes. I'll makes sure we get our happily ever after.
”
”
Tillie Cole (Sweet Home (Sweet Home, #1))
“
Will you stay no longer? nor will you not that I go with you?
Sebastian: By your patience, no. My stars shine darkly over me; the malignancy of my fate might, perhaps, distemper yours; therefore I shall crave of you your leave that I may bear my evils alone. It were a bad recompense for your love to lay any of them on you.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)
“
The Brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing, and think it were not night.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
It is my lady. O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold. ’Tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those
stars
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment... We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it.
”
”
Alfred North Whitehead (An Introduction to Mathematics (Galaxy Books))
“
I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more:
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
”
”
William Shakespeare (King Henry IV, Part 1)
“
If you want more people to come to the theatre, don't put the prices at £50. You have to make theatre inclusive, and at the moment the prices are exclusive. Putting TV stars in plays just to get people in is wrong. You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.
”
”
Catherine Tate
“
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.” Easy enough to say when you’re a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
Everyone in this tale had a rock-solid hamartia: hers, that she is so sick; yours, that you are so well. Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, “The fault, dear Brutus, is no in our stars / But in ourselves.” Easy to say when you’re a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
Thou truly art in jest. Art thou not small/Of stature, if thou art a stormtrooper?
-Leia Organa
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
LUKE —But O, what now? What light through yonder flashing sensor breaks?
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
You've never heard of the Trickster King?" Puck asked, shocked.
The girls shook their heads.
"The Prince of Fairies? Robin Goodfellow? The Imp?"
"Do you work for Santa?" Daphne asked.
"I'm a fairy, not an elf!" Puck roared. "You really don't know who I am! Doesn't anyone read the classics anymore? Dozens of writers have warned about me. I'm in the most famous of all of William Shakespeare's plays."
"I don't remember any Puck in Romeo and Juliet," Sabrina muttered, feeling a little amused at how the boy was reacting to his non-celebrity.
"Besides Romeo and Juliet!" Puck shouted. "I'm the star of a Midsummer Night's Dream!"
"Congratulation," Sabrina said flatly. "Never read it.
”
”
Michael Buckley (The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, #1))
“
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood.
List, list, O list!
”
”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
“
Atoms, in short, are very abundant. They are also fantastically durable. Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms-- up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested-- probably once belonged to Shakespeare.
”
”
Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
“
I could be well moved, if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me:
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm and arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out of the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed Earth and the tracery of stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land?
”
”
W.E.B. Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk)
“
No, sure, my lord, my mother cried, but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)
“
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere.
”
”
William Shakespeare (King Henry IV, Part 1)
“
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
At first I did adore a twinkling star
But now I worship a celestial sun
”
”
William Shakespeare (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
“
Give me my Romeo. And when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
It is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves.” Easy enough to say when you’re a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.
”
”
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
“
Thou man of scruffy looks, thou who heard’st nerfs, Thou fool-born wimpled roughhewn waste waste of flesh!
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #5))
“
When she shall die, take her, and cut her in little stars, and she will make the face of heaven so fine, that the world will be in love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. . . .
O, I am fortune’s fool! . . .
Then I defy you, stars.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
[Luke, holding stormtrooper helmet.] Alas, poor stormtrooper, I knew ye not,/ yet have I taken both uniform and life/ From thee. What manner of a man wert thou?/ A man of inf'nite jest or cruelty?/ A man with helpmate and with children too?/ A man who hath his Empire serv'd with pride?/ A man, perhaps, who wish'd for perfect peace?/ What'er thou wert, goodman, thy pardon grant/ Unto the one who took thy place: e'en me.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of the evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius... and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil.
”
”
W.E.B. Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk)
“
Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms - up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested - probably once belonged to Shakespeare.
A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name.
So we are all reincarnations - though short-lived ones. When we die, our atoms will disassemble and move off to find new uses elsewhere - as part of a leaf or other human being or drop of dew.
”
”
Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
“
A plague on 3PO for action slow,/ A plague upon my quest that led us here,/ A plague on both our circuit boards, I say! [R2-D2}
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
and when he dies, cut him out in little stars, and the face of heaven will be so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no heed to the garish sun.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!
”
”
William Shakespeare (King Lear)
“
-No, I am thy father.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #5))
“
If Jupiter was in the ascendant when you were born, you are of a jovial disposition; and if you're not jovial but miserable and saturnine that's a disaster, because a disaster is a dis-astro, or misplaced planet. Disaster is Latin for ill-starred.
The fault, as Shakespeare put it, is not in our stars; but the language is.
”
”
Mark Forsyth (The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language)
“
This Force, by troth, I'll never comprehend!
It doth control and also doth obey?
And 'tis within and yet it is beyond,
'Tis both inside and yet outside one's self?
What paradox! What fickle-natur'd pow'r!
Aye: frailty, thy name-- belike--is Force.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” —William Shakespeare, Macbeth
”
”
Laura Thalassa (Dark Harmony (The Bargainer, #3))
“
LUKE —But O, what now? What light through yonder flashing sensor breaks? HAN It marks the loss of yon deflector shield.
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
But yet let me lament
With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts
That thou my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate in empire,
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart
Where mine his thoughts did kindle—that our stars
Unreconcilable should divide
Our equalness to this.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra)
“
I'll be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night, stick fiery off indeed.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
“
In time so long ago begins our play, In war-torn galaxy far, far away.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #5))
“
Once more unto the trench, dear friends, once more!
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
[They shoot, Greedo dies. [To innkeeper:] Pray, goodly Sir, forgive me for the mess. [Aside:] And whether I shot first, I’ll ne’er confess! [Exeunt.
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
To Alderaan we fly on course direct, And to this feast of death I’ll not object. [Exit Darth Vader.
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
ACKBAR —O knavery Most vile, O trick of Empire’s basest wit. A snare, a ruse, a ploy: and we the fools. What great deception hath been plied today— O rebels, do you hear? Fie, ’tis a trap!
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #6))
“
Do not speak unflatteringly of Jane," Flora said, walking beside Chad. "She is the greatest writer to have ever lived." "I thought that was Shakespeare." "William was, or course, quite good," Flora said. "But no one can compare to Jane Austen.
”
”
Krista McGee (Starring Me)
“
O be not anxious, comrades, fear ye not! The siuation here hath been controll'd. All merry 'tis in the detention block!....
That conversation did my spirits bore! Now Luke, prepare thyself for company.
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
LEIA —Thy vanity Hath puff’d up thine imagination. HAN —Aye? Then why dost thou yet follow me? Wert thou Afraid I would depart without a kiss? LEIA I would as eagerly kiss Wookiee lips. HAN That can arrangèd be. By heaven’s breath, A kiss would suit thee well!
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #5))
“
The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine
”
”
William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
“
Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning sun of heaven
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the even,
Doth half that glory to the sober west,
As those two mourning eyes become thy face:
O! let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack
”
”
William Shakespeare (Shakespeare's Sonnets)
“
Everything was deathly quiet. The eyes were the most terrifying: the eyes of dinosaurus; the eyes of trilobites and ants; the eyes of birds and butterflies; the eyes of bacteria... The humans alone possessed one hundred billion pairs of eyes, equal to the number of stars in the Milky Way, Among them were the eyes of ordinary men and women, and the eyes of Da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Einstein.
”
”
Liu Cixin (Death's End (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #3))
“
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art,
As truth and beauty shall together thrive
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee I prognosticate,
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Shakespeare's Sonnets)
“
I've always been a fan of science fiction. I grew up watching Star Trek. Now I get to live it!"
"Star Trek?" Trond asked. "Seriously? That's like a hundred years old."
"Quality is quality," Jin said. "Age is irrelevant. No one bitches about Shakespeare fans.
”
”
Andy Weir (Artemis)
“
LUKE Friends, rebels, starfighters, lend me your ears. Wish not we had a single fighter more, If we are mark’d to die, we are enough To make our planets proud. But should we win, We fewer rebels share the greater fame. We all have sacrific’d unto this cause.
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
This golden droid has been a friend, 'tis true,/ And yet I wish to still his prating tongue!/ An imp, he calleth me? I'll be reveng'd,/ And merry pranks aplenty I shall play/ Upon this pompous droid C-3PO!/ Yet not in language shall my pranks be done:/ Around both humans and droids I must/ Be seen to make such errant beeps and squeaks/ That they shall think me simple. Truly, though,/ Although with sounds obilque I speak to them, I clearly see how I shall play my part,/ And how a vast rebellion shall succeed/ by wit and wisdom of a simple droid. [R2-D2]
”
”
Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
It is a period of civil war. The spaceships of the rebels, striking swift From base unseen, have gain’d a vict’ry o’er The cruel Galactic Empire, now adrift. Amidst the battle, rebel spies prevail’d And stole the plans to a space station vast, Whose pow’rful beams will later be unveil’d And crush a planet: ’tis the DEATH STAR blast. Pursu’d by agents sinister and cold, Now Princess Leia to her home doth flee, Deliv’ring plans and a new hope they hold: Of bringing freedom to the galaxy. In time so long ago begins our play, In star-crossed galaxy far, far away.
”
”
Ian Doescher (Verily, a New Hope (William Shakespeare's Star Wars, #4))
“
My plenteous joys, Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, And you whose places are the nearest, know We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
”
”
William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
“
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Sonnets (No Fear Shakespeare))
“
in that small [time] most greatly lived this star of England:
Fortune made his sword, By which the world's best garden he achiev'd
And left it to his son imperial lord.
Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King
of France and England did this King succeed;
Whose state so many of had the managing,
That they lost France and made his England bleed.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Henry V)
“
My story starts at sea, a perilous voyage to an unknown land. A shipwreck. The wild waters roar and heave. The brave vessel is dashed all to pieces. And all the helpless souls within her drowned. All save one. A lady. Whose soul is greater than the ocean, and her spirit stronger than the sea's embrace. Not for her a watery end, but a new life beginning on a stranger shore. It will be a love story. For she will be my heroine for all time. And her name will be Viola."
"She was incomprehensible, for, in her, soul and spirit were one - the beauty of her body was the essence of her soul. She was that unity sought for by philosophers through many centuries. In this outdoor waiting room of winds and stars she had been sitting for a hundred years, at peace in the contemplation of herself."
"He knew that there was passion there, but there was no shadow of it in her eyes or on her mouth; there was a faint spray of champagne on her breath. She clung nearer desperately and once more he kissed her and was chilled by the innocence of her kiss, by the glance that at the moment of contact looked beyond him out into the darkness of the night, the darkness of the world."
"Her heart sank into her shoes as she realized at last how much she wanted him. No matter what his past was, no matter what he had done. Which was not to say that she would ever let him know, but only that he moved her chemically more than anyone she had ever met, that all other men seemed pale beside him."
"I used to build dreams about you."
"Then she kissed him until the sky seemed to fade out and all her smiles and tears to vanish in an ecstasy of eternal seconds.
”
”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
“
We read the pagan sacred books with profit and delight. With myth and fable we are ever charmed, and find a pleasure in the endless repetition of the beautiful, poetic, and absurd. We find, in all these records of the past, philosophies and dreams, and efforts stained with tears, of great and tender souls who tried to pierce the mystery of life and death, to answer the eternal questions of the Whence and Whither, and vainly sought to make, with bits of shattered glass, a mirror that would, in very truth, reflect the face and form of Nature's perfect self.
These myths were born of hopes, and fears, and tears, and smiles, and they were touched and colored by all there is of joy and grief between the rosy dawn of birth, and death's sad night. They clothed even the stars with passion, and gave to gods the faults and frailties of the sons of men. In them, the winds and waves were music, and all the lakes, and streams, and springs,—the mountains, woods and perfumed dells were haunted by a thousand fairy forms. They thrilled the veins of Spring with tremulous desire; made tawny Summer's billowed breast the throne and home of love; filled Autumns arms with sun-kissed grapes, and gathered sheaves; and pictured Winter as a weak old king who felt, like Lear upon his withered face, Cordelia's tears. These myths, though false, are beautiful, and have for many ages and in countless ways, enriched the heart and kindled thought. But if the world were taught that all these things are true and all inspired of God, and that eternal punishment will be the lot of him who dares deny or doubt, the sweetest myth of all the Fable World would lose its beauty, and become a scorned and hateful thing to every brave and thoughtful man.
”
”
Robert G. Ingersoll (Some Mistakes of Moses)
“
We would never have met," he explained, voice dropping to a husky note. "I would have gone about my life and not thought I was missing anything. You would have – you would have painted obsessively, all those transformative images, and I would be someone unimagined and unknown, and I cannot decide whether it would be trite to call that a tragedy or if I should resent you for making this – all this death – somehow bearable, tolerable for the tenuous joy I have gained. You steal my anger and leave me dazed."
He stopped, took a shaking breath, then laughed.
"I sound like Pan's understudy, failing to channel Shakespeare. There's no way to do more than guess what would have happened if Fisher Charteris and Madeleine Cost met one day in a world which had never feared dust, any more than we can be certain of surviving two years, or two days. I can't speak to what-ifs, but I know I will always be glad to have been here in this moment with you.
”
”
Andrea K. Höst (And All the Stars)
“
Because they are so long-lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms—up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested—probably once belonged to Shakespeare. A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name. (The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley.) So we are all reincarnations—though short-lived ones. When we die our atoms will disassemble and move off to find new uses elsewhere—as part of a leaf or other human being or drop of dew. Atoms, however, go on practically forever.
”
”
Bill Bryson (A Really Short History of Nearly Everything (Young Adult))
“
Zu früh, befürcht ich; denn mein Herz erbangt
Und ahnet ein Verhängnis, welches, noch
Verborgen in den Sternen, heute Nacht
Bei dieser Lustbarkeit den furchtbarn Zeitlauf
Beginnen und das Ziel des läst'gen Lebens,
Das meine Brust verschließt, mir kürzen wird
Durch irgendeinen Frevel frühen Todes.
Doch er, der mir zur Fahrt das Steuer lenkt,
Richt' auch mein Segel!
I fear, too early. For my mind misgives
Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life, closed in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But He that hath the steerage of my course
Direct my sail!
Romeo: Act I, Scene 4
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
God speed fair Helena! whither away?
HELENA
Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
HELENA
O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
HERMIA
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
HELENA
O that my prayers could such affection move!
HERMIA
The more I hate, the more he follows me.
HELENA
The more I love, the more he hateth me.
HERMIA
His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
HELENA
None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
”
”
William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
“
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
“
I pull the skull off my head. Even though it's made of papier-mache it's really hard. I smash it against Jimmy Snyder's head, and I smash it again. He falls to the ground, because he is unconscious, and I can't believe how strong I actually am. I smash his head again with all my force and blood starts to come out of his nose and ears. But I still don't feel any sympathy for him. I want him to bleed, because he deserves it. And nothing else makes any sense. Dad doesn't make sense.Mom doesn't make sense. The Audience doesn't make sense. The folding chairs and fog machine don't make sense. Shakespeare doesn't make sense. The stars that I know are on the other side of the gym ceiling don't make sense. The only thing that makes any sense right then is my smashing Jimmy Snyder's face. His blood. I knock a bunch of his teeth into his mouth, and I think they go down his throat. There is blood everywhere, covering everything. I keep smashing the skull against his skull, which is also Ron's skull (for letting Mom get on with life) and Mom's skull (for getting on with life) and Dad's skull (for dying) and Grandma's skull (for embarrassing me so much) and Dr. Fein's skull (for asking if any good could come out of Dad's death) and the skulls of everyone else I know. The Audience is applauding, all of them, because I am making so much sense. They are giving me a standing ovation as I hit him again and again.
”
”
Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
“
The hardest lesson you will ever learn will be to love yourself. But you can do it. There will always be days when you hate yourself, days when you wish you had never been born. But darling, you are beautiful, and if Shakespeare had met you, you would've inspired his 18th sonnet, and if Monet had known you, he would've given up painting water lilies and chosen to paint you instead. I know it’s hard to love yourself, but sometimes it’s okay to be a little selfish with your love..
When you begin to feel worthless, remember that the stars died for you. You are made of elements that are thousands of years old, elements that make up every atom of your being. When you want to cut your wrists, remember that the souls of stars live in your veins. Don’t kill them.
Live for the life you always wanted but were too scared to pursue.
Live for you. Live for me. Live for every person who has ever loved you, for the people who have come before you, so that you may be here today.
Live for the fire that burns in your soul, that tells you: keep going, you’re almost there, just a little farther. Because when Rome burned down the emperor didn't run away, he stayed and he sang for his people. Stay. Sing for your people. Sing for us.
”
”
M.K. excerpt from "The Twelve-Step Program for Life"
“
But hell can endure for only a limited period, and life will begin again one day. History may perhaps have
an end; but our task is not to terminate it but to create it, in the image of what we henceforth know to be
true. Art, at least, teaches us that man cannot be explained by history alone and that he also finds a reason
for his existence in the order of nature. For him, the great god Pan is not dead. His most instinctive act of
rebellion, while it affirms the value and the dignity common to all men, obstinately claims, so as to satisfy
its hunger for unity, an integral part of the reality whose name is beauty. One can reject all history and yet
accept the world of the sea and the stars. The rebels who wish to ignore nature and beauty are condemned
to banish from history everything with which they want to construct the dignity of existence and of labor.
Every great reformer tries to create in history what Shakespeare, Cervantes, Moliere, and Tolstoy knew
how to create: a world always ready to satisfy the hunger for freedom and dignity which every man
carries in his heart. Beauty, no doubt, does not make revolutions. But a day will come when revolutions
will have need of beauty. The procedure of beauty, which is to contest reality while endowing it with
unity, is also the procedure of rebellion. Is it possible eternally to reject injustice without ceasing to
acclaim the nature of man and the beauty of the world? Our answer is yes. This ethic, at once unsubmissive
and loyal, is in any event the only one that lights the way to a truly realistic revolution. In upholding
beauty, we prepare the way for the day of regeneration when civilization will give first place—far ahead
of the formal principles and degraded values of history—to this living virtue on which is founded the
common dignity of man and the world he lives in, and which we must now define in the face of a world
that insults it.
”
”
Albert Camus (The Rebel)