Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.

In Norway, today is Midsummer's Eve. In honor of this prestigious holiday, I have collected some quotes for your reading pleasure:

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say, "Behold!"
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.
-- A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.

I 'll speak in a monstrous little voice.
-- A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 2.

And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
-- A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act ii. Sc. 1.


I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
-- A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act ii. Sc. 1.


Lord, what fools these mortals be!
-- A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act iii. Sc. 2.