William Shakespeare Quotes
He that dies pays all debts.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
This quotation illustrates the method by which the Ancient Jews (also modern ultra orthodox Christians and Jews coped with the problem of inequality of wealth and the problem of a permanent poor and debtor class. It was a form of redistribution of wealth. As a practical manner, this passage had a profound influence on the Jewish and early Christian cultures. Namely there was not a great deal of lending or borrowing amongst the Jews. However, Jews were able to obtain repayment for longer than the 7 years if they made a loan to foreigners. The early Christians had the same stricture. So Jews could lend money to Christians and Christians to Jews without being required to forgo collection ever 7th year. So for Christians, Jews were money lenders which is where the Jewish money lender stereotype had its origin.
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.
