I can swim like a duck.
If someone asks if you can swim, you never have to say a simple 'yes' ever again. And, when they ask what you mean, just as you jump in, tell them you're quoting Shakespeare.#6512•
Here's the pang that pinches (Henry 8): fatigue and poor memory come to us all. Dogberry, in Much Ado About Nothing, reminds us that the older we get, the less wit ('mental ability') we have:
When the age is in, the wit is out.#6521•
Chapter 6
And sometimes, simple, plain frankness is the only way. This line, from As You Like It, is best for when it's evident you're not getting on with someone:
I do desire we may be better strangers.
It could also be said in great irony, for when it's crystal clear you need to spend the rest of your life together.#6514•
If that seems to catch the flame of their upset, and the room rolls into a rage, use Hamlet's lines to see how far everyone's willing to go:
Woo't weep? Woo't fight? Woo't fast? Woo't tear thyself? Woo't drink up eisel? Eat a crocodile?#6511•