“If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening ...”

“Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years? O that he were here to write me down an ass! But masters, remember that I am an ass. Though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow, and which is more, an officer, and which is more, a householder, and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina, and one that knows the law, go to . . . and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him. Bring him away. O that I had been writ down an ass!”

“Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,The which in every language I pronounce,Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.”

“O, if I say, you look upon this verse,When I perhaps compounded am with clay,Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,But let your love even with my life decay;Lest the wise world should look into your moan,And mock you with me after I am gone.”

“Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.”

“Give me my robe, put on my crown; I haveImmortal longings in me: now no moreThe juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hearAntony call; I see him rouse himselfTo praise my noble act; I hear him mockThe luck of Caesar, which the gods give menTo excuse their after wrath: husband, I come:Now to that name my courage prove my title!I am fire and air; my other elementsI give to baser life. So; have you done?Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.Kisses them. IRAS falls and diesHave I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?If thou and nature can so gently part,The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,Which hurts, and is desired. Dost thou lie still?If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the worldIt is not worth leave-taking.”

“But I will wear my heart upon my sleeveFor daws to peck at: I am not what I am.”