The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 1, sc. 4, l. 40
A man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense,
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, study and fast.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 1, sc. 4, l. 57
We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 1, l. 1
’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing on the prisoner’s life,
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 1, l. 17
This will last out a night in Russia,
When nights are longest there.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 1, l. [144]
There is a vice that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice,
For which I would not plead, but that I must;
For which I must not plead, but that I am
At war ’twixt will and will not.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 29
Condemn the fault and not the actor of it?
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 37
No ceremony that to great ones ’longs,
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
‘Measure for Measure’ (1604) act 2, sc. 2, l. 59
O! it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.