“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Work
This wisely funny comedy, which contains some of Shakespeare’s loveliest poetry, contrasts a court’s world of envy and rivalry with a forest’s world of compassion and harmony. In the Forest of Arden, the banished young heroine, Rosalind, disguised as a gentleman farmer, encounters an extraordinary assemblage of characters, including a fool, a malcontent traveler, her own banished father, and the banished young man she loves. Romantic happiness triumphs, even as we laugh at the excesses of love, at the ways of court and countryside, indeed, at everything, in this masterpiece of comic writing.<br><br>Each Edition Includes:<br>• Comprehensive explanatory notes <br>• Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship <br>• Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English<br>• Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories <br>• An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography
Quotes
Showing 1-10 of 10
William Shakespeare
Canonical work source
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
“Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punish'd and cured is that the lunacy is so ordinary that...”
“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”
“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, t...”
“All the world's a stage.”
“Under the greenwood tree, Who loves to lie with me And tune his merry note, Unto the sweet bird's throat; Come hither, come hither, come hither. Here shall he see No enemy But winter and rou...”
“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. I would not change it.”
“Master, go on, and I will follow thee To the last gasp with truth and loyalty.”
“I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine.”
“Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.”