Quotes from Charles Nicholl

When in doubt, move, even if it's in the wrong direction.

Everything should be doubted and tested before it is held to be true.

This is the way history happens: it is measured out in days rather than epochs.

It is true that biographical readings of the plays are dangerous, unregulated, prone to sentimentalization. It is absurd to cherry-pick passages of poetry written over more than two decades and infer from them a consistent personal attitude. Lines belong in a dramatic context and in the psychological context of the character who utters them and cannot be taken to reflect Shakespeare's views.

The cage is empty; the mind has flown.

It is a fairly general rule that the picturesque is based on someone else's inconvenience