William Shakespeare Quotes
Base is the slave that pays.
Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster, 1995, p. 49. (Act 2, Scene 1, line 96).
Referring to the Arawak natives he found when he landed in the "new world—San Salvador:"
The Ndebele were a warrior caste that had captured the land of the Shona and enslaved them. When the whites came there was antipathy to the Ndebele and great fear that they would have to farm and do manual labor, things which they had always required their slaves to do. At the same time the king was a vicious despot who killed many of his subjects at his whim and who was resented even by the Ndebele. The king took poison rather than be captured by the whites. Ironically, the king anticipated the great dissatisfaction of the Ndebele when they could no longer own slaves and had to do their own manual labor.
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. They also continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
