# Prithee, speak'st thou to me in the honey-tongued wit of the Swan of Avon, absolute in their numbers as he conceived them **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [May 18, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330 "2021-05-18T00:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/81 "2021-06-03T16:11:47Z")
**First Witch** All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! **Second Witch** All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! **Third Witch** All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! Macbeth, III, i. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/82 "2021-06-04T00:58:40Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Macbeth, III, i. _Macbeth_, ~~III, i~~ I, iii > [@](#): > > Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not > Those in commission yet returned? – _Macbeth_, I, iv. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/83 "2021-06-04T12:34:36Z")
Good gentlemen, he hath much talk’d of you, And sure I am two men there are not living To whom he more adheres. If it will please you To show us so much gentry and good will As to expend your time with us awhile For the supply and profit of our hope, Your visitation shall receive such thanks As fits a king’s remembrance. Hamlet II, ii. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/84 "2021-06-04T13:47:49Z")
The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength, Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant; But I am weaker than a woman’s tear, Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance, Less valiant than the virgin in the night And skilless as unpractised infancy. _Troilus and Cressida_, I, i ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/85 "2021-06-04T21:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > 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: – _Romeo and Juliet_, III, ii. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/86 "2021-06-05T11:58:13Z")
Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. - _As You Like It_, IV, i. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/87 "2021-06-05T18:43:01Z")
But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all ‘We died at such a place;’ some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection. _Henry V,_ IV, i ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/88 "2021-06-07T17:04:31Z")
Let me have war, say I: it exceeds peace as far as day does night: it’s sprightly waking, audible, and full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible: a getter of more bastard children than war’s a destroyer of men. - _Coriolanus_, IV, v. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/89 "2021-06-07T17:20:10Z")
Under the greenwood tree Who loves to lie with me, And turn his merry note Unto the sweet bird’s throat, Come hither, come hither, come hither: Here shall he see no enemy But winter and rough weather. _As You Like It_, V, i ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/90 "2021-06-07T20:46:57Z")
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into hey nonny nonny. -_Much Ado About Nothing_, II, iii. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/91 "2021-06-07T23:29:06Z")
If I prove honey-mouth’d let my tongue blister And never to my red-look’d anger be The trumpet any more. Pray you, Emilia, Commend my best obedience to the queen: If she dares trust me with her little babe, I’ll show’t the king and undertake to be Her advocate to the loud’st. We do not know How he may soften at the sight o’ the child: The silence often of pure innocence Persuades when speaking fails. _The Winter’s Tale_, I, ii ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/92 "2021-06-09T12:49:15Z")
Look what is done cannot be now amended. Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, Which after-hours give leisure to repent. If I did take the kingdom from your sons, To make amends I’ll give it to your daughter. If I have killed the issue of your womb, To quicken your increase I will beget Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter. - _Richard III_, IV, iv. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/93 "2021-06-09T17:30:15Z")
I wish I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home. Behold, these are the tribunes of the people, The tongues o’ the common mouth: I do despise them; For they do prank them in authority, Against all noble sufferance. _Coriolanus_, III, i ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/94 "2021-07-19T10:15:28Z")
Can’t beat a bit of Lear. Act 3 scene 2 Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanes, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulfurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ th’ world, Crack nature’s molds, all germens spill at once That make ingrateful man! Great on the page but even better when given full throttle by a pro! [Roger Allam, King Lear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn955417swY) (and there is a whole series of those little vignettes available from that leak. That’ll be a afternoon lost for you all then!) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/95 "2021-07-19T23:04:46Z")
DUNCAN Whence camest thou, worthy thane? ROSS From Fife, great king; Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And fan our people cold. Norway himself, With terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict; Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm. Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude, The victory fell on us. _Macbeth_, I, i ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/96 "2021-07-19T23:48:57Z")
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. Sonnet 130 ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/97 "2021-07-20T00:19:25Z")
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand, O that I were a glove upon that hand that I might touch that cheek! _Romeo and Juliet_, II, ii. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330/98 "2021-07-22T14:39:45Z")
O now, who will behold The royal captain of this ruin’d band Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, Let him cry ‘Praise and glory on his head!’ For forth he goes and visits all his host. Bids them good morrow with a modest smile And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen. Upon his royal face there is no note How dread an army hath enrounded him; Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour Unto the weary and all-watched night, But freshly looks and over-bears attaint With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty; That every wretch, pining and pale before, Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks: A largess universal like the sun His liberal eye doth give to every one, Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all, Behold, as may unworthiness define, A little touch of Harry in the night. _Henry V_, IV, i [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prithee-speakst-thou-to-me-in-the-honey-tongued-wit-of-the-swan-of-avon-absolute-in-their-numbers-as-he-conceived-them/942330.md?page=4)