“The iron tongue of Midnight hathtold twelve lovers, to bed; 'tisalmost fairy time. I fear weshall outstep the coming mornas much as we this night over-watch'd.”

“Tush!Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate;Talkers are no good doers: be assuredWe come to use our hands and not our tongues.”

“It is my soul that calls upon my name;How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,like softest music to attending ears!-Romeo”

“Captain of our fairy band,Helena is here at hand,And the youth, mistook by me,Pleading for a lover's fee.Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“How now, spirit! whither wander you?FAIRY Over hill, over dale,Through bush, through brier,Over park, over pale,Through flood, through fire,I do wander everywhere,Swifter than the moon's sphere;And I serve the fairy queen,To dew her orbs upon the green.The cowslips tall her pensioners be:In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours,In those freckles live their savours:I must go seek some dewdrops hereAnd hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:Our queen and all our elves come here anon.”

“In time we hate that which we often fear.”

“I know love is begun by time,And that I see, in passages of proof,Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.There lives within the very flame of loveA kind of wick or snuff that will abate it.And nothing is at a like goodness still.For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,Dies in his own too-much. That we would do,We should do when we would, for this “would” changesAnd hath abatements and delays as manyAs there are tongues, are hands, are accidents.And then this “should” is like a spendthrift sighThat hurts by easing.”