A quotation from James Shirley

The glories of our blood and state
   Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
   Death lays his icy hand on kings:
         Scepter and crown
         Must tumble down,
And, in the dust, be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

James Shirley (1596–1666) English poet, playwright
Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles’s Armour, sc. 3, st. 1 (1659)

More about this quote: wist.info/shirley-james/82728/

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