Do as adversaries do in law, —
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. — The Taming of the Shrew, Act I, Scene II

My Take – When possible, I try to stay on good terms with people I disagree with.  It makes it easier to either find a way to solve problems in spite of them, or to be able to sense when they’re about to shiv me in the shower.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go, —
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

    And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
    As any she belied with false compare.  — Sonnet CXXX

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.  – Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene II

My Take – This is a pretty stoic way of looking at it, but it’s accurate.  We tend to look at something bad and make it worse trying to find all of the possible permutations.  Things usually turn out better if we just look a bad situation in the eye, spit in it, and get on with it.

We are ready to try our fortunes
To the last man.  — Henry IV, Part 2, Act IV, Scene II

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. — The Tempest, Act IV, Scene I

My Take – All lives are ephemeral.  My grandmothers are a memory to me, and a vague memory to my children.  My kids’ children may or may not have a memory of me, but I aim to have an impact on them.  We are only here for a very short time, and we must make every heartbeat count as if it is our last.  Heinlein had a saying about taking big bites, and I plan on following it.

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, — and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

    For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
    That then I scorn to change my state with kings.  — Sonnet XXIX

My Take – When life is giving you its worst, it’s good to be able to think that someone, somewhere, cares.  Even the memory of a smile or a kind word can raise your spirits.

I hold my peace, sir? no;
No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.  — Othello, Act V, Scene II

My Take – Sometimes it’s hard to say what you truly feel.  When what you have to say is unpopular, a lot of people will try to silence you.  Sometimes it gets you shunned, sometimes it gets you stoned, and sometime it gets you nailed to a tree.  But a free person knows that to be silenced is to be controlled, and will fight to make their voice heard.

O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.  – King Lear, Act III, Scene IV

My Take –

Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. — Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

My Take – I don’t see the need to walk around looking like Billy Badass in order to feel safe.  I stay situationally aware, mind my manners, dress conservatively, and am prepared to fight like a treed bear if I’m threatened.