Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both,

They have made themselves, and that their fitness now

Does unmake you.

Macbeth, Act i., Sc. 7.

... it becomes

The thronèd MONARCH better than his CROWN.

The Merchant of Venice, Act iv., Sc. 1.

Why is “better” not the most significant word?

Lives of great men all remind us