John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
987 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 987 |
| AUTHOR: | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| QUOTATION: | Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. ’T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I ’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1. [text] |
| WORKS: | William Shakespeare Collection. |