Source identified1
Read & copy
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Meaning & context
Status and authority are presented as carrying anxiety and responsibility rather than guaranteeing comfort or peace of mind.
Source details
Henry IV, Part 2, Act III Scene 1; reviewed against the 1921 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Samuel B. Hemingway. King Henry speaks the crown line at the close of his sleepless midnight monologue after contrasting his wakefulness with the sleep of poor subjects and the storm-tossed ship-boy. It remains dramatic kingship rhetoric rather than clinical evidence about leadership stress.
