William Shakespeare - A E Aytoun - Sydney J Harris - Alexander Pope - Homer - Anne Bronte - William Blake -
Shall we play the wantons with our woes,
And make some pretty match with shedding tears? William Shakespeare, Richard II III iii 164
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. William Shakespeare, Hamlet I ii 85
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
For what is this world but grief and woe?
O God! Methinks it were a happy life
To be not better than a homely swain. William Shakespeare, Richard Duke of York II v 20-22, King Henry’s soliloquy
God for his mercy, what a tide of woes
Comes rushing on this woeful land at once. William Shakespeare, Richard II II ii 98-99, York to Servingman
Why, headstrong liberty is lashed with woe. William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors II i 15, Luciana to Adriana
This day’s black fate on more days doth depend
This but begins the woe others must end. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet III i 119-120, Romeo to Benvolio
Though woe be heavy, yet it seldom sleeps,
And they that watch see time how slow it creeps. William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece 1574-1575
The deep unutterable woe
Which none but exiles feel. W E Aytoun, The Island of the Scots, 1849
Ninety per cent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves – so how can we know anyone else? Sydney J Harris
Teach me to feel another’s woe,
To hide the fault I see,
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me. Alexander Pope, The Universal Prayer
And woe succeeds to woe. Homer, Iliad
Long exercised in woes. Homer, Odyssey
Oh, I am very weary,
Though tears no longer flow;
My eyes are tired of weeping,
My heart is sick of woe. Anne Bronte
Can I see another’s woe.
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief
And not seek for kind relief? William Blake