John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
672 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 672 |
| AUTHOR: | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| QUOTATION: | Makes a swan-like end, Fading in music. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | The Merchant of Venice. Act iii. Sc. 2. [text] |
| WORKS: | William Shakespeare Collection. |
| Note 1. I will play the swan and die in music.—Othello, act v. sc. 2. I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan, Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death. King John, act v. sc. 7. There, swan-like, let me sing and die.—Lord Byron: Don Juan, canto iii. st. 86. You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.—Socrates: In Phaedo, 77. [back] |