Source identified1
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“The readiness is all.”
Meaning & context
The emphasis is not on controlling every outcome but on meeting what comes with preparedness and acceptance.
Source details
Act 5, Scene 2.
Author & topic collection
William Shakespeare Quotes About Moving On
Browse 6 quotations connecting William Shakespeare with Moving On, with meanings, source notes and related themes.
Sources
Where these moving on quotations appear
Sources represented here include The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth.
Quotations
6 matching quotations with meanings and source context
Source identified2
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“What’s done cannot be undone.”
Meaning & context
Some consequences cannot be reversed, so the practical question becomes how to respond now rather than how to erase the past.
Source details
Macbeth, Act V, Scene I, reviewed against the scan-backed 1918 Yale text. Lady Macbeth says 'What's done cannot be undone' during the sleepwalking scene; the dramatic context is guilt and psychological disintegration, not generic advice that consequences should simply be accepted.
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“To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.”
Meaning & context
Grief over what cannot be changed can become a second injury when it prevents attention to what can still be done.
Source details
Othello, Act I, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed 1910 First Folio facsimile on Wikisource. The Duke's 'To mourne a Mischeefe that is past and gon' sentence is part of the same attempt to redirect Brabantio after Desdemona's marriage; this collection preserves modernized spelling and punctuation rather than Folio orthography.
Source identified4
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“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Meaning & context
The phrase holds affection and pain together: separation hurts precisely because the relationship being left is valued.
Source details
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2; Juliet speaks as the lovers part for the night.
Source identified5
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“What’s past is prologue.”
Meaning & context
The past is framed as context rather than the whole story, leaving the future open to further action.
Source details
The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1; Antonio says this while urging Sebastian toward a conspiracy against Alonso. The phrase is therefore embedded in morally compromised dramatic persuasion rather than neutral advice.
Source identified6
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“The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.”
Meaning & context
Prospero chooses deliberate mercy over retaliation, presenting forgiveness not as weakness but as the more difficult exercise of reason and character.
Source details
The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1; Prospero decides against vengeance after considering the suffering of his enemies.
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