As Dreams Are Made On

from The Tempest, Act IV, Sc. I

by Wm. Shakespeare

Prospero:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I fortold you, were all spirits, and

Are melted into air, into thin air,

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And like this insubstantial pageant faded

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.