Sentence No. 122 · 27 July 2026
Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ.
William Shakespeare, Othello
William Shakespeare — Othello (1603) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
Notice the inverted structure: the subject 'trifles' sits far from its verb 'are', with a descriptive phrase tucked between. Once you spot the subject and the comparison 'strong as proofs of holy writ', the middle fragment about jealous confirmations falls into place.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 6 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. A schemer reflects on how easily small suspicions take root in a troubled mind. Putting it back in the author’s order is the puzzle — and the order is rarely arbitrary, which is what the note above is about.
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