I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation, nor the musician's,

which is fantastical, nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the soldier's, which is
ambitious, nor the lawyer's, which is politic.
(As You Like It, 4.1.97), Jaques to Rosalind
Push him out of doors;
And let my officers of such a nature
Make an extent upon his house and lands:
Do this expediently and turn him going.
(As You Like It, 3.1.16), Duke Frederick to Oliver
TOUCHSTONE. Wast ever in court, shepherd?
CORIN No, truly.
TOUCHSTONE Then thou art damned.
CORIN Nay, I hope.
TOUCHSTONE Truly, thou art damned like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.
CORIN For not being at court? Your reason?
TOUCHSTONE Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never sawest good manners; if
thou never sawest good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and
wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.
CORIN Not a whit, Touchstone: those that are good manners at the court are as
ridiculous in the country as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the
court.
(As You Like It, 3.2.30)
* manners = morals.
Why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his
quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave
now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his
action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his
statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the
fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine
dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too,
than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his
lands will scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?
(Hamlet, 5.1.97), Hamlet to Horatio
* quiddities - quibbles; petty distinctions. From Latin quid, meaning what.
Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent
that thou art heir apparent--But, I prithee, sweet
wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when
thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is
with the rusty curb of old father antic the law?
Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.

(1 Henry IV, 1.2.54), Falstaff to Prince Hal

Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch;
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth;
Between two blades, which bears the better temper:
Between two horses, which doth bear him best;
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye;
I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgement;
But in these nice sharp quillets of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.
(2 Henry VI, 2.4.17), Warwick to Lords
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
(2 Henry VI, 4.2.59), Dick the Butcher to Jack Cade
All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call false caterpillars, and intend their death.
(2 Henry VI, 4.4.36), Messenger to Henry VI
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE. There's no time for a man to recover his hair that grows
bald by nature.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE. May he not do it by fine and recovery?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE. Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig and recover the lost hair of
another man.
(The Comedy of Errors, 2.2.71)
When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law.
(King John, 3.1.189), Constance to Cardinal Pandulph
A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, threesuited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking
knave.
(King Lear, 2.2.14), Kent