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

936 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 John Bartlett

 
NUMBER:936
AUTHOR:William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
QUOTATION:And telling me, the sovereign’st thing on earth
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
This villanous saltpetre should be digg’d
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy’d
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.
ATTRIBUTION:King Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3.  [text]
WORKS:William Shakespeare Collection.