Now is the winter of my discontent

There are a few quotes from Shakespeare that people tend to misunderstand, the most egregious of which is probably “star-crossed lovers,” which actually means lovers whose relationship is doomed to failure or ended in tragedy. The second, “now is the winter of our discontent,” is often used to mean that things can’t get worse, when in fact it’s a parallel of our more commonly-used saying “the night is always darkest just before dawn,” meaning that things will get better. It’s hopeful, though...