I start: the song of the Witches in Macbeth: “Double, double toil and trouble” Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble''
By my life, this is my lady's hand: these be her very C's, her U's, and her T's; and thus makes she her great P's. -Twelfth Night
Officially it starts with Westmoreland - or you cut to somewhere roundabouts here, I think - and thinking [narration of] Bullingdon Club oaf stood on table with dickie bow and claret in fist This day is call’d the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’ Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’ Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he’ll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. GSTK
Really? It [used to be] taught at school - so can be recited as a v v v drunk and generally high tory party piece/presentation - after Lilly Marlene obv ... I'll think on for a more leftist equivalent.
There's a Lear one that you pick up if you studied Lear. It makes you look like an 'asshole' every time. Whenever anybody says 'Nothing...' like a Pavlov dog you leap up and say, and proper pompous like a king... 'NOTHING COMES OF NOTHING...' They just stare at you - because obviously he/she sat in the class for 12th Night. But there is a real potential for bondage/back slaps. Failed for me about eight times already...
Honestly never read or seen Shakespeare (never saw the “greatness” of it) .... so really the only quote I know which I am not even sure ( I think it is shakespeare) is “to be or not to be.” But that one is so often repeated......
Oh, he is most definitely overrated, and there tends to be this whole class of pedants both inside and outside of academia that just love to mooch off his reputation and like to pretend he shat gold. But he was actually a pretty damn good writer, and if you can get around the language there are some pretty ripping one liners and fairly bawdy jokes. Of all of the writers of his time period, he's probably one of the most fun to read.
"I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that's in me should set hell on fire." (Falstaff, Act 5 Scene 5)