Preface to Shakespeare

HAMLET

ACT II. SCENE ii. (II. i. 114-17.)

It is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions,
As it is common for the younger sort

To lack discretion. This is not the remark of a weak man. The vice of age is too much suspicion. Men long accustomed to the wiles of life "cast" commonly "beyond themselves", let their cunning go further than reason can attend it. This is always the fault of a little mind, made artful by long commerce with the world.