Shakespeare and Scripture
    by Christina Griggs, Undergraduate Research Assistant (Architecture, third year)

Students of the University frequently turned to literature when signing the autograph books of their classmates. While there was an Alexander Pope or John Milton quotation here and there, the two most common sources of inspiration were William Shakespeare and the Book of Proverbs. Sometimes misquoted or taken out of context, these quotations are still an interesting glimpse into the common wisdom of the time.
 
 
The quotations below are copied as they were written in the autograph books, including spelling errors and copy mistakes.
 
Quotations from the Book of Proverbs:
"Look not when the wine when it is red - when it giveth its color in the cup - for at last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder!" 23:32
"Say unto wisdom. Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman" 7:4
 
"Surely the churning of the milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood, so the forcing wrath surrendereth strife" 30:33
 
Quotations from Shakespeare:
Dispute it like a man
I shall do so:
But I must also feel it like a man:
I cannot but remember things were
That were most pleasant to me
Macbeth, Act IV Scene iii
 
'To thine own self be true, and it shall follow, as the day the night that thou canst not then be false to any man"
Hamlet, Act I Scene iii
 
“I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends”
Richard II, Act II Scene iii*
 
*This quotation was repeated in multiple autograph books by different signers.
 
 
 
Cite This Entry 
Griggs, Christina. "Shakespeare and Scripture." JUEL, June 18, 2015. http://juel.iath.virginia.edu/node/115.
 
First published: June 18, 2015 | Last modified: