Quote by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And too often is his gold complexion dimm'd: And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or natures changing course untrimm'd; By thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Summary
This quote is from Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare and is part of a comparison between a person and a summer's day. The speaker suggests that the person they are addressing is more beautiful and gentle than a summer's day, which can be temperamental and short-lived. While summers can have harsh weather and fade away, the person's beauty will not diminish. The speaker assures them that even in death, they will be immortalized in the timeless lines of this poem, and as long as people can read and breathe, their beauty and memory will live on.