The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

8/10

We did it! I started reading this a little over 2 years ago and finally finished it last night. A lot of things have happened since I began reading this, namely: the birth of my son, graduating from law school, studied for, took, and passed the bar exam, got a job, and moved all the way across the country. And I finished it just before the birth of my next son. We've seen, and been through a lot together, Shakespeare and I.

Anyway, it was mostly a fun and enjoyable experience. I really liked a number of his plays and usually at least slightly enjoyed most of the others. There were a few that I wasn't so keen on, but that's ok. I also decided to rank his plays and poems. Trust me, this is impossible to do. And I feel that if I re-read all his stuff again then the rankings could look quite differently. Plus, I think the rankings would look entirely different if I was ranking the actual play performances instead of just reading the plays. Nevertheless, below are the rankings. I also provide only one quote selected from each play, which was usually very difficult to narrow down. But a few plays I couldn't really even pinpoint a good one to use.

But one word before I present my rankings. My favorite is Othello. Yes, this is probably not ever listed as #1 of Shakespeare's plays, but I just love it. Mainly for 2 reasons: First, it was his first play I read that I enjoyed and realized that he's cool to read. And second, the main reason, I just can't get enough of Iago. Greatest. Shakespeare. Character. Ever.

1. Othello, The Moor of Venice

"To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief."

2. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!

3. Julius Caesar

"There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures."

4. Titus Andronicus

"Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge"

5. Romeo and Juliet

"Confusion's cure lives not
In these confusions. Heaven and yourself
Had part in this fair maid; now heaven hath all.
And all the better is it for the maid:
Your part in her you could not keep from death;
But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.
The most you sought was her promotion;
For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced:
And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced
Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?
O, in this love, you love your child so ill
That you run mad, seeing that she is well...
For though fond nature bids us all lament,
Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment."

6. King Lear

"Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides"

7. Pericles, Prince of Tyre

"One sin I know another doth provoke;
Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke"

8. Cymbeline

"Be cheerful; wipe thine eyes:
Some falls are means the happier to arise."

9. Macbeth

"I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable; to do good, sometime
Accounted dangerous folly"

10. The Life and Death of King Richard III

"True hope is swift, and flies with swallows' wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings."

11. Coriolanus

"'twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints
The happy man"

12. King Henry V

"No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men the greater share of honor.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold;
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honor,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honor,
As one man more, methinks, would share from me,
For the best hope I have. O do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,
And say, To-morrow is Saint Crispian:
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day.
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names,
Familiar in their mouths as household words, -
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster, -
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered, -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

13. King Henry VI. Third Part

"Wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss,
But cheerly seek how to redress their harms."

14. The Life and Death of King Richard II

"For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it and sets it light."

15. The Comedy of Errors

16. The Merchant of Venice

"The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek -
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"

17. King Henry VI. First Part

18. Much Ado About Nothing

"O, what men dare do! what men may do! what men daily do! not knowing what they do!"

19. Measure for Measure

"Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
As if we had them not."

20. King John

"How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make ill deeds done!"

21. The Winter's Tale

"Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;
With them, forgive yourself."

22. Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

23. The Tempest

"Look thou be true: do not give dalliance
Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i' the blood"

24. King Henry VI. Second Part

"What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted!"

25. King Henry VIII

"Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim's at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's; then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king;
And, - pr'ythee, lead me in:
There take an inventory of all I have,
To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own, O Cromwell Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies."

26. Two Gentlemen of Verona

"Fire that is closest kept burns most of all."
"They do not love that do not show their love."
"O, they love least that let men know their love."

27. King Henry IV. First Part

"If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work"

28. Merry Wives of Windsor

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."

29. A Midsummer Night's Dream

"Disparage not the faith thou dost not know"

30. The Taming of the Shrew

31. Timon of Athens

"'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after."

32. Antony and Cleopatra

"We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers."

33. King Henry IV. Second Part

"O thoughts of men accurst!
Past, and to come, seems best; things present, worst."

34. Troilus and Cressida

"He that is proud eats up himself: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed devours the deed in the praise."

35. As You Like It

"Your gentleness shall force
More than your force move us to gentleness."

36. All's Well That Ends Well

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues."

37. Love's Labour's Lost

"All pride is willing pride."


And now to rank the Poems:

1. Venus and Adonis

"Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,
But lust's effect is tempest after sun;
Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain,
Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done.
Love surfeits not; lust like a glutton dies:
Love is all truth; lust full of forged lies."

2. The Rape of Lucrece

"What win I if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy:
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be stricken down?"

3. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music

"He that is thy friend indeed,
He will help thee in thy need;
If thou sorrow, he will weep;
If thou wake, he cannot sleep:
Thus of every grief in heart
He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe."

4. Sonnets

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd."

5. The Passionate Pilgrim

6. A Lover's Complaint

7. The Phoenix and the Turtle

The Broken Heart by Bruce C. Hafen

7/10

Another church book post? How righteous can I get? So I read this about 9 years ago. I got this book because Bruce C. Hafen is one of my favorite members of the Seventy of all time. Every General Conference talk of his is gold (seriously, look up his talks). Plus, he was always my pick to become a member of the Twelve in the local office betting pools. Of course I lost a lot of mula. Jay kay.

The book focuses on the atonement, or as the smaller print on the book cover would say, applying the atonement to life's experiences. At the very beginning of the book is a quote from the great James E. Talmage, indicating where the book gets it's title: "The Lord Jesus died of a broken heart." The book is really good and helpful in gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for the atonement. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read a good church book.

Quotes:

After quoting Boyd K. Packer who points out that the word 'atonement' only appears once in the English New Testament (Romans 5:11), and, by contrast, appears in the Book of Mormon 55 times, says: "And beyond word usage, the Book of Mormon contains without question the most profound theological treatment of the Atonement found in any book now available on any shelf anywhere in the world."

"The gospel was given us to heal our pain, not to prevent it."

"Only those whose own sacrificial attitude resembles his, even if only slightly, are prepared to be endowed with his grace."

The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must 'repay' him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior's help, leads us along the path to a saintly character."

True to the Faith

8/10

I read this 9 or 10 years ago but kind of forgot how good it is until looking through it again for this post. It's not so much a book as it is an A-Z reference resource for gospel topics. It's pretty solid and can be used easily for church lesson prep and the like. Each term discussed has a number of additional scripture references for further study. It is always a little strange reading straight through a dictionary-styled book though. Not much else to expound upon, so to a couple quotes:

In the "Humility" topic: "To be  humble is to recognize gratefully your dependence on the Lord - to understand that you have constant need for His support.... It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that you know where your true strength lies."

In the "Prayer" topic: "When you make a request through prayer, do all you can to assist in its being granted."

The Beloved Works of C.S. Lewis

7/10

Another Clive Staples Lewis post? There's a lot more where that came from.

This book gathers 4 of his books. They are: Surprised by Joy, Reflections on the Psalms, The Four Loves, and The Business of Heaven. I read Surprised by Joy probably about 9 years ago. I then read the other three about 7 years ago. It's good stuff, and it really, honestly, truly doesn't get better than C.S. Lewis when it comes to Christian writing.

I remember not loving Surprised by Joy (his biography which focuses on his conversion from atheism to Christianity) for some reason, which was a surprise indeed. But looking over it again, I'm not sure what's not to like. I probably fell victim to the trap of unrealistically high expectations after having somewhat recently read Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. I should read it again. Maybe some day. The others were good too as far as I can remember. The Business of Heaven is probably the best for classic C.S. Lewis quotes because it is actually various writings of his presented in small samplings for each day of the year, calendar-quote style. So there's lots of good ones from lots of different sources.

As per usual, many good quotes. I'll try not to go overboard.

From Surprised by Joy:

"I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world."

"Where courage is not, no other virtue can survive except by accident."

"What I like about experience is that it is such an honest thing. You may take any number of wrong turnings: but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear. You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you. The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it."

From Reflections on the Psalms:

"Where we find a difficulty we may always expect that a discovery awaits us." (I've actually kept this quote written on a piece of paper and carried it in my scripture case ever since reading this quote. I think it's great).

"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst."

"I am inclined to think a Christian would be wise to avoid, where he decently can, any meeting with people who are bullies, lascivious, cruel, dishonest, spiteful and so forth. Not because we are 'too good' for them. In a sense because we are not good enough. We are not good enough to cope with all the temptations."

From The Four Loves:

"A man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God."

"When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it."

From The Business of Heaven:

"Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.... That is why daily prayers and religious readings and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

"We should, I believe, distrust states of mind which turn our attention upon ourselves. Even at our sins we should look no longer than is necessary to know and to repent them; and our virtues or progress (if any) are certainly a dangerous object of contemplation. When the sun is vertically above a man he casts no shadow: similarly when we have come to the Divine meridian our spiritual shadow (that is, our consciousness of self) will vanish. One will thus in a sense be almost nothing: a room to be filled by God and our blessed fellow creatures, who in their turn are rooms we help to fill."

"Wherever the will conferred by the Creator is thus perfectly offered back in delighted and delighting obedience by the creature, there, most undoubtedly, is Heaven, and there the Holy Ghost proceeds."

Lectures on Faith

8/10

I read this in September, 2003. I know this because there was a very brief time where I wrote the date that I completed the book on the inside of the front cover. Not sure why I stopped doing that, but I did. And we have all had to live with the consequences.

This here is a nice little compilation of seven lectures originally prepared in connection with the school of the elders and was even published as part of the 1835 D&C. The preface discusses the mystery of who authored these lectures and says that there is strong evidence that the majority of the writing was by Sidney Rigdon.

It is actually only 78 pages but feels like it's twice that length (not in a bad way) because of the depth of the doctrinal discussion. Some of it can drag (I'm looking at you Lecture Second), but it is worthwhile and most definitely worth a perusal. It is also from these lectures that comes one of the greatest quotes of all time which I will here quote prior to and apart from the other quotes because of its awesomeness: "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."

Some more quotes about faith:

"It is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action."

"Let us here observe, that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that he actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to his will. For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive."

"Those who know their weakness and liability to sin would be in constant doubt of salvation if it were not for the idea which they have of the excellency of the character of God, that he is slow to anger and long-suffering, and of a forgiving disposition and does forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. An idea of these facts does away doubt, and makes faith exceedingly strong."

"It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him so as to obtain eternal life, unless they, in like manner offer unto him the same sacrifice, and through that offering obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him."

"And what constitutes the real difference between a saved person and one not saved is - the difference in the degree of their faith - one's faith has become perfect enough to lay hold upon eternal life, and the other's has not."

"If we find one saved being in all existence, we may see what all others must be, or else not be saved. We ask, then, where is the prototype? Or, where is the saved being? We conclude, as to the answer of this question, there will be no dispute among those who believe the Bible, that it is Christ: all will agree in this, that he is the prototype or standard of salvation."

"[The] teaching of the Savior most clearly show unto us the nature of salvation, and what he proposed unto the human family when he proposed to save them - that he proposed to make them like unto himself, and he was like the Father, the great prototype of all saved beings; and for any portion of the human family to be assimilated into their likeness is to be saved; and to be unlike them is to be destroyed; and on this hinge turns the door of salvation."

Answers for Young Latter-Day Saints

4/10

This little ditty is a book I randomly unearthed in a box full of odd and ends inside the closet of some missionaries apartment on the mission. And I said, "Don't mind if I do." My favorite is the cover.

So it's a collection of 108 questions, to be exact, which were answered in the New Era by Church leaders and random members I've never heard of. There are some big name dudes who provide their wisdom, namely: Spencer W. Kimball, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Stephen R. Covey, among others. It's got some good stuff, but mostly ok stuff mixed in with funny topics. Some of my favorites being the classic 1977-era concerns about playing cards, hypnotism, and hitchhiking. Ha ha.

One quote from a question about temple recommend requirements:

Person's answer quoting Harold B. Lee, "When you enter a holy temple, you are by that course gaining fellowship with the Saints in God's eternal kingdom."

Our Search For Happiness by M. Russell Ballard

8/10

In honor of Ballard's general conference talk today, I am making this post. I read this on the mission, way back in the year 2002. In the yeeeeaaaaar 2002 (Conan O'Brien joke).

This is a quick , 124-page book about the Church and written as a kind of introduction to the founding and basic teachings of the Church. I remember liking it. Not as much as the Talmage Missionary Reference Library books of course. But it was probably a more useful book to me as a missionary wanting to introduce the Church to others. But yes, it was good and helpful, but less memorable than the two Talmage and Legrand Richards ones. Do read it, though, if you haven't.

Quote:

"[A]fter the spirit of Christ enters our hearts and our souls, we can never be the same again."