Note: Though written in 1485, which was during the Renaissance period, these lines carry a message right out of the Middle Ages.
"Ye [man] think sin in the beginning full sweet,
Which in the end causeth thy soul to weep,
When the body lieth in clay.
Here shall you see how fellowship and jollity,
Both strength, pleasure, and beauty,
Will fade from thee as flower in May.
For ye shall hear, how our Heaven-King
Calleth Everyman to a general reckoning:
Give audience, and hear what he doth say."
Source: Excerpt from an English play called Everyman, written by an unknown author in 1485.
"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
Source: excerpt from Act II, Scene II of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1601.