Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·Macbeth, Act I.vii ·Lady Macbeth
"Screw your courage to the sticking point."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"Screw your courage to the sticking point."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we'll not fail." Lady Macbeth — Macbeth, Act I.vii
Why it matters
"Sticking-place," not "sticking point" — the tuning peg on a crossbow. Modern ears hear a business-meeting cliché; Elizabethan ears heard a weapon being wound taut.
More from the canon.
Browse the rest of the shelf, or try a cold reading.