If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.

William Shakespeare Twelfth Night, Act I, scene i Verified source · How we source quotes
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Where this quote comes from

These are the opening lines of Twelfth Night, spoken by Duke Orsino. Lovesick for Olivia, he asks his musicians for more music, hoping that too much of it will kill his appetite for love the way overeating kills hunger. Within a few lines the same tune bores him: "'Tis not so sweet now as it was before."

Source: Twelfth Night, Act I, scene i

Also quoted as

  • “If music be the food of love play on Give me excess of it that surfeiting The appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound.”

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