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Sonnet XCIV (94)
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces
And husband nature’s riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
—William Shakespeare
Get the Annotated Romeo & Juliet!
Humorously and thoughtfully annotated by teacher Callie Feyen, author of The Teacher Diaries: Romeo & Juliet, this version of Shakespeare’s play also includes introductory essays by four smart and witty women—professors, editors, authors.
