They can be like the half-remembered words of a popular song which retain a personal significance never intended by the lyricist.

I always remember a line from Measure For Measure too:

“Thou hast nor youth, nor age
But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep
Dreaming on both.”

I just looked it up to make sure I got it right and, give or take a few words, it is amazing how well I remember it from an impressionable reading from my school days.

What stays is not the high moral tone of the play but that half pleasant, half frightening image of one’s life seen through the surreal haze of a rather comfortable snooze after a hearty meal and a few too many brandies.

Shakespeare, I am sure, meant these phrases to linger on and to leave with us, like all great poetry, the kernel of his meaning.

I bet we all have half-remembered quotes floating round in our heads, holding very personal meanings to each of us regardless of the Bard’s original intentions.

james shapiro wrote a brilliant chapter on that very Shakespeare quote in his superb book, ‘1599’

I agree that it is one of Shakespeare’s finest thoughts….

My personal favourite at the moment, without wanting to sound too luvvie, is when Aguecheek in 12th Night says ‘I was adored once’ – it tells a whole lifetime in four words. He weren’t bad that Shakespeare you know…