Status : Unsolved

Took me a little while to find this one, which scrolled by on Twitter.  It’s not Shakespeare (at least, not in that form), but I’m trying to figure out a valid source.

Here’s a pointer to Henry James, circa 1864.  That doesn’t mean he was first to use the expression, though.

The full quote, as James uses it:

We live for our dreams – but meanwhile, we live by our wits.

Status: Not by Shakespeare

Saw this go by on Twitter just now, but it’s an easy find.  All Googling shows it as originating with Euripides.  Specifically, and I’m quoting Wikipedia here so take this for what you will:

The quote "Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other" is listed under William Arrowsmith’s translation of Orestes, but I read that and another translation and found nothing like it. Does anyone know if the quote is credible and, if so, what its source is?

It appears to be from line 298 in at least one publication of the Arrowsmith translation.

The line 298 link above points to the books.google.com confirmation.

Status: Not by Shakespeare

This is another one of those quotes that seems to have come up someplace and wandered around a bit until someone put “Shakespeare once said…” in front of it and it stuck.  I can find nothing even close to this quote in Shakespeare’s works (hint, Shakespeare only ever used the word “alphabet” once, in Titus Andronicus),  nor did I particularly expect to.  It sounds more like something off a Hallmark card.

Still searching for an original source, but hopes are not high.  A quote this long is typically written many different ways, which makes Googling for a true original difficult.

Ok, crew.  Maybe this is lazy but I like to think of it as research. :)  I need a list of the plays that have the most positive messages about marriage.  Does that make sense?  They don’t have to have a wedding in them (most of the plays don’t, at least not on stage), but anything “pro-wedding” counts. For instance I’ve got Much Ado, As You Like It, Midsummer.  But also The Tempest, because of Prospero’s conjuring of spirits to bless Miranda and Ferdinand.  Taming of the Shrew is debatably “pro marriage”, but I’m counting it. I would not on the other hand count something like Hamlet – technically the marriage between Gertrude and Claudius is a plot point, but I wouldn’t exactly call it “pro”.  You know, what with Hamlet shouting “We will have no more marriages!” and all that. Which others? I want to make sure I’m not missing any.