Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. William Shakespeare
NEW YORK CITY We should credit the unscrupulous publishers who published the 18 unauthorized versions of William Shakespeares plays, made some money perhaps, and managed to get away with their shenanigans.
We understand there were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works during the Elizabethan era, thus his plays were reportedly published in quarto editions.
Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived, it was learned.
According to william-shakespeare.info, a collection of his works did not appear until 1623 (a full seven years after Shakespeares death on April 23, 1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of Williams plays in the First Folio.
Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print, it was learned further.
QUOTABLE
Writer Guy Wright believes Shakespeare is the most quotable playwright and poet in the world until this generation.
I doubt that theres anyone reading this who goes through a normal days conversation without quoting Shakespeare, Wright writes in Word Power.
Once in a while we realize we are doing this, he adds, but most of the time we lift his lines to season our speech and sharpen our opinions without the slightest thought of the source.
Wright cited the examples below:
When you call a man a rotten apple, a blinking idiot or a popinjay When you say he bears a charmed life or is hoist with his own petard When you proclaim him a man of few words
COMFORT
When you speak of old comfort, grim necessity, bag and baggage, the minds eye, holding your tongue, suiting the action to the words
When you refer to your salad days or heart of hearts
When you deplore the beginning of the end, lifes uncertain voyage or the unkindest cut of all
By golly, youre quoting Shakespeare, hisses Wright.
Here are more:
When you use such expressions as poor but honest, one fell swoop, as luck would have it, the short and the long of it, neither here nor there, whats done is done
When you say something smells to heaven or is Greek to me, or its a mad world or not in my book
COMPLAIN
When you complain that you havent slept a wink or that your family is eating you out of house and home, or youve seen better days
When you speak of a coward showing his heels or having no stomach for a fight
When you nod wisely and say, Love is blind or Truth will come to light or The world is my oyster
You are borrowing your bon mot from the Bard. Shakespeare was the greatest cliché inventor of all time, Wright explains. Without him to put the words in our mouths, we would be virtually tongue-tied, and the English language would have a lean and hungry look.
