The Merchant of Venice (1596-7), I, ii, 131 (Portia)
“

If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.

— Black people

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me." in the context of "The Merchant of Venice (1596-7), I, ii, 131 (Portia)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Black people" (Quotes, I - Z, Shakespeare) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Black people

About Black people

Black people usually refers to people of relatively recent African descent (see African diaspora), although other usages extend the term to any of the populations characterized by having a dark skin color, a definition that also includes certain populations in Oceania and Southwest Asia.