Martial, the things that do attain
  The happy life be these, I find,—
The riches left, not got with pain;
  The fruitful ground, the quiet mind,

The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
  No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the...

From “Third Part of Henry VI.,” Act II. Sc. 5.
  KING HENRY.—O God! methinks, it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run:...

From “a Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Act III. Sc. 2.

                O, IS all forgot?
All school-days’ friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one...

From “Hamlet,” Act III. Sc. 2.
  HAMLET.—Horatio, thou art e’en as just a man
As e’er my conversation coped withal.
  HORATIO.—O my dear lord—
  HAMLET.—        Nay, do not think I flatter:
For what advancement may I hope from thee
That no revènue...

Sonnet Xxx.
when to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends...

Sonnet Xxix.
when in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him,...

Sonnet Lv.
not marble, not the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents,
Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils...

From “Julius Cæsar,” Act IV. Sc. 3.
Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS.
  CASSIUS.—That you have wronged me doth appear in this:
You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella
For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
Wherein my letter, praying on his side,
Because I...

From “On Friendship”
OF all the heavenly gifts that mortal men commend,
What trusty treasure in the world can countervail a friend?
Our health is soon decayed; goods, casual, light and vain;
Broke have we seen the force of power, and honor suffer stain.
In...

Like to the clear in highest sphere
Where all imperial glory shines:
Of selfsame color is her hair,
Whether unfolded, or in twines:
  Heigh-ho, fair Rosalynd!
Her eyes are sapphires set in snow,
Refining heaven by every wink;
The gods do...

Poet: Thomas Lodge