Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
It is (almost) official. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee and face Barack Obama come November. The battle ahead will include reluctant warriors.
Let us remember the heroes and warriors at the front lines though. Our nation is still a nation at war in Afghanistan. We have troops deployed all across the globe in dangerous places fighting profound challenges and entrenched enemies of freedom.
Now that the general election is all but underway, I am reminded of a close friend who quotes Shakespeare on auspicious occasions. A Marine, a devoted practioner in the electoral arts, and a great man, embraces this passage from Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene I:
"Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war."
On to victory. I shall share some of my favorite quotes in the comments but first, what are your favorite passages from Shakespeare?
- Comment (43)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (5)
Comments:
Sep '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
The great speech in Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt, of course.
Dec '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Elizabeth,
Why I think I answered this once before on Ricochet.
No problem glad to answer again.
WE HAPPY FEW!
Regards,
Jim
May '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (Julius Caesar 1.2.135)
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
My favorite works are Julius Caesar, Henry V to start - and MacBeth, a tale based on my antecedents in the Irvine/Irwin wing of our family. But the pure inspiration and yes, majesty, in the St. Crispin's Day speech is altogether unparalelled. Henry V: for the win!
Sep '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
My favorite Shakespeare quotes are the Barbara Streisand fake ones.
Jul '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Besides Henry V Agincourt speech, this from Othello:
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash. 'Tis something, nothing: 'Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands. But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed.
Sep '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Perhaps just because it's the one I had to memorize in about 1963 and it has never left me. Its most apt recent application would seem to be to Obama's decision to run in 2008.
Aug '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Get thee to a nunnery!
Sep '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Given that the current occupant of the White House shows signs of "unduly high self regard" -- to put it politely -- I would have to say that all of Hamlet applies to this election.
Sep '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
I hate to crash the thread, but a few years ago I read of a Jesuit army chaplain who during the Korean war had helped one of the soldiers call out a line from Xenophon before charging a mound.
Dec '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering barque,
Whose worth's unkown, although his height be taken;
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
That might be my favorite. But I'm also very fond of the bits (from Two Gentlemen of Verona) that I quote in my profile, all of which, I'm happy to say, are true (especially the bit about She having 'many nameless virtues." Or so She says.)
Mar '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Henry V has already been taken, so:
May '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
Mar '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
No favorites in this play but something about this Administration and its' Krugmanesque supporters constantly summons Macbeth to my mind.
The other thought is God Bless the Troops, all but forgotten all but unsung.
May '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
Henry VI
(divorced man joke)
Apr '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress built by Nature for herself,
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England...
--Richard II
There are a few passages I've recommitted to memory since I've had kids, and this is a favorite (I remain a hopeless Anglophile). It's nice to have some Shakespeare ready at hand at bedtime.
Edited on April 24, 2012 at 5:08amMar '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
The Fool had most of the best lines in King Lear.
Sep '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Dear Elizabeth,My favorite passage is from King Lear:Oh, reason not the need!Our basest beggars are in the poorest thing superfluous.Allow not nature more than nature needs,Man's life is cheap as beast's.Thanks,Freddy Clayton
Dec '10
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Tis the mind that makes the body beautiful.
Mar '11
Re: Cry Havoc! November Awaits.
Keith Preston: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
Henry VI
(divorced man joke) · 13 minutes ago
I like that one too, Keith. It's part of Jack Cade's campaign to become king. The lines just before that one:
Sound like anyone we know?