Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second Stood heir to th's first.

Preferment goes by letter and affection.

I will not choose what many men desire, Because I will not jump with common spirits And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.

Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Or neither? Neither can be enjoyed, If both remain alive. To take the widow Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril; And hardly shall I carry out my side, Her husband being alive.

If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye and death i' th' other, And I will look on both indifferently; For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death.

O hell! to choose love by another's eye.