One touch of nature makes the whole world kin…
– William Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida, Act III Scene iii)

That quote is so much sweeter and nature-worshiping if you don’t read any of the following drivel. Seriously – don’t read this.

Okay, it’s your own fault. The above quote is taken somewhat out of context (rampantly and frequently). It’s part of a speech in which Ulysses tells Archilles that he has become too retiring and keeps too much to himself and has therefore lost the fame and power he once had. Here it is in more accurate context, starting with the selected quote and preceding to the end of the speech:

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,
That all with one consent praise new-born gawds,
Though they are made and moulded of things past,
And give to dust that is a little gilt
More laud than gilt o’er-dusted.
The present eye praises the present object.
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;
Since things in motion sooner catch the eye
Than what not stirs. The cry went once on thee,
And still it might, and yet it may again,
If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive
And case thy reputation in thy tent;
Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,
Made emulous missions ‘mongst the gods themselves
And drave great Mars to faction.

I just had to say it. Sorry.