“The chiefest action for a man of great spirit is never to be out of action... the soul was never put into the body to stand still.”

“What's this flesh? A little cruded milkFantastical puff-paste. Our bodies are weaker than thosePaper prisons boys use to keep flies in; more contemptible,Since our is to preserve earth-worms. Didst thou ever seen A lark in a cage? Such is the soul in the body: this worldIs like her little turf of grass, and the heaven o'er our heads Like her looking-glass, only gives us a miserable knowledge Of the small compass of our prison.”

“I am Duchess of Malfi still.”

“What a strange creature is a laughing fool,As if a man were created to no useBut only to show his teeth.”

“Are you out of your princely wits?"What's he? Let me have his beard sawed off and his eyebrows filed more civil!”

“Call for the robin-red-breast and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, And with leaves and flow'rs do coverThe friendless bodies of unburied men. Call unto his funeral dole The ant, the field-mouse and the mole,To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm,And (when gay tombs are robbed) sustain no harm,But keep the wolf far thence, that's foe to men,For with his nails he'll dig them up again.Let holy Church receive him duly,Since he paid the church-tithes truly.”

“What! because we are poor Shall we be vicious?”