Book: Hamlet
Quotes of Book: Hamlet
I have of late-but whereforeI know not-lost all my mirth, forgone all custom ofexercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with mydisposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems tome a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament,this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why,it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilentcongregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how likea god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Mandelights not me-no, nor woman neither, though byyour smiling you seem to say so. book-quoteWhen Rosencrantz asks Hamlet, "Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? You do surely bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your grief to your friends"{III, ii, 844-846}, Hamlet responds, "Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me." {III,ii, 371-380} book-quote
