by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
They that have power to hurt, and will...
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Sonnets, no. 94 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by James Henry Baseden Butt (b. 1929), "They that have power", 1950, published 1958, first performed 1951 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Pastorale, London, Hinrichsen [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet XCIV - They that have power", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 2 no. 1 (1944-5) [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XCIV", 1865 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Adolf Wallnöfer (1854 - 1946), "Sonet 94", op. 78 no. 2, published 1904 [ tenor and piano ], from 5 Sonnette von William Shakespeare, no. 2, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) ; composed by Adolf Wallnöfer.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 94, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 106