Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·As You Like It, Act IV.i ·Rosalind
"Too much of a good thing."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"Too much of a good thing."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?" Rosalind — As You Like It, Act IV.i
Why it matters
Shakespeare wrote it as a rhetorical question — Rosalind is teasing Orlando. Reduced to a flat idiom, the line loses the wink: she is inviting him to say yes.
More from the canon.
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