"Comparisons are odorous." ;)

We are rummaging about in the dirt today--tilling up the garden plots, transplanting, delving out all the forgotten perennials in the raised beds...I enjoyed transplating all our teensy-weensy herb seedlings! They are no taller than apple-seeds and yet they are full of fragrance already! I can't wait to start cooking with them. We are a tad late with starting up the garden--lots of it ought to have been planted several weeks ago, but we are planting nonetheless. :) But updating you about the garden was not meant to be the point of this post...

 I've been realizing all of a sudden (haha-why did it take so long?) that Shakespeare's writings are the most quoted of all time! (Excluding the Bible, of course.) Generally when we think of Shakespeare we have a vague idea of men in funny, feathered hats, pink tights, and slashed doublets. Poison and daggers and "Woes-is-me" figures rather largely too. In most circles quoting Shakespeare is so old-school. No one does it anymore?...or do they?

That's what I'm realizing, and what most people don't ever understand. Scads of common words and terms and expressions in the English language were coined by William Shakespeare! What do I mean? Here are just a few examples:

All that glitters is not gold.

All's well that ends well.

Bated breath

Bag and baggage

Best foot forward

Breathed his last

Break the ice

Dead as a doornail

Eaten me out of house and home.

Forever and a day

The game is afoot

In my mind's eye

Kill with kindness

Knock-knock. Who's there? :D

Neither rhyme nor reason

Own flesh and blood

I could go on. And on. And on. There are hundreds of other examples I could use, but why don't you find them out for yourself? Here is a great website full of them: The Path Guy: Words and Phrases Coined by Shakespeare.
So I'm calling for a revolution--give Shakespeare a bit more recognition...and it makes you sound smart too! So next time you "Send someone packing" or see a "sorry sight" stand up a bit taller--you're quoting one of the most brilliant authors in all history. :)