I have done the state some service, and they know 't.

No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice. Then, must you speak

Of one that loved not wisely but too well;

Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought

Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,

Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,

Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their medicinal gum.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act v. Sc. 2.

In men this blunder still you find,—

All think their little set mankind.

Hannah More (1745-1833): Florio. Part i.

I have set my life upon a cast,

And I will stand the hazard of the die:

I think there be six Richmonds in the field.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Richard III. Act v. Sc. 4.

So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,

That I would set my life on any chance,

To mend it, or be rid on 't.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 1.

And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,

In good set terms.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.