1 The wonder is, he hath endur'd so long: He but usurp'd his life.
2 'An chud ha' bin zwaggered out of my life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a vortnight.'
3 And yet I know not how conceit may rob The treasury of life when life itself Yields to the theft.
4 Quickly send, Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia; Nay, send in time.
5 My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thine enemies; ne'er fear to lose it, Thy safety being the motive.
6 Edmund, I think, is gone In pity of his misery, to dispatch His nighted life; moreover to descry The strength o th'enemy.
7 I dare pawn down my life for him, that he hath writ this to feel my affection to your honour, and to no other pretence of danger.
8 Take up thy master; If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, With thine, and all that offer to defend him, Stand in assured loss.
9 O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's.
10 Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of justice, yet our power Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men May blame, but not control.
11 Caitiff, to pieces shake That under covert and convenient seeming Hast practis'd on man's life: close pent-up guilts, Rive your concealing continents, and cry These dreadful summoners grace.
12 Reverse thy state; And in thy best consideration check This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgement, Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least; Nor are those empty-hearted, whose low sounds Reverb no hollowness.
13 Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter; Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty; Beyond what can be valu'd, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found; A love that makes breath poor and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so much I love you.