English poem
Sonnet 94: They that have power to hurt, and will do none
They that have power to hurt, and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow; They rightly do inherit heaven's graces, And husband nature's riches from expense; They are the lords and owners of their faces, Others, but stewards of their excellence. The summer's flower is to the summer sweet, Though to itself, it only live and die, But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 90: Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now
- Sonnet 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
- Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away
- Sonnet 93: So shall I live, supposing thou art true
- Sonnet 95: How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
- Sonnet 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
- Sonnet 97: How like a winter hath my absence been
- Sonnet 98: From you have I been absent in the spring