Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 3, Act 3, sc. 5, l. 21ff (3.5.21-41) (1591)

Dave — Mon, 12 May 2025 16:49:49 +0000

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:
How many makes the hour full complete,
How many hours brings about the day,
How many days will finish up the year,
How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is known, then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock,
So many hours must I take my rest,
So many hours must I contemplate,
So many hours must I sport myself,
So many days my ewes have been with young,
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean,
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece;
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Passed over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this! How sweet, how lovely!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 3, Act 3, sc. 5, l. 21ff (3.5.21-41) (1591)
(Source)

"Ean" means to give birth to lambs.

Morris, William -- “The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,” speech, London (10 Mar 1880)

Dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 18:41:51 +0000

Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement: a sanded floor and whitewashed walls, and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the smoke with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it may be unnoticed; which, think you, is the most refined, the most fit for a gentleman of those two dwellings?

William Morris (1834-1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
“The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,” speech, London (10 Mar 1880)
(Source)

WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 3, Act 3, sc. 5, l. 21ff (3.5.21-41) (1591)

Morris, William -- “The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,” speech, London (10 Mar 1880)