WorkWilliam Shakespeare
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1589-93; First Folio, 1623) Inferred
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) · c. 1589-93; First Folio, 1623
InferredFuller frames her Boston Conversations on "constancy" with the motto "Were man but constant, he were perfect," which Hudspeth identified as from Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona (V.iv.110–12). ‘Were man constant he were perfect’ is a quotation from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, scene iv (spoken by Proteus). The phrase ‘Were man constant he were perfect’ is a well-known quotation from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, sc.
QuotedReadMentioned
Documented 1842
Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Letters • Journals
Selected engagements, in chronological order.
Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this work is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →
“Our subject is constancy 'Were man but constant, he were perfect”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.
Inferred Fuller frames her Boston Conversations on "constancy" with the motto "Were man but constant, he were perfect," which Hudspeth identified as from Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona (V.iv.110–12).
Undated
Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.
“Were man constant he were / perfect” quoted G. R.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Journal Fragments." Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Inferred ‘Were man constant he were perfect’ is a quotation from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, scene iv (spoken by Proteus). The phrase ‘Were man constant he were perfect’ is a well-known quotation from Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, sc.
“Were man but constant, he were perfect.”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.
Inferred In her December 1847 letter from Rome, Margaret Fuller cites Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) with the observation that "Were man but constant, he were perfect." This direct quotation, from Act 5, Scene 4, serves Fuller's commentary on the perceived wavering of American youth from their espoused ideals.