Doubting myself
For when the doubt has started making the decisions for you.
Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt.
In plain words
Lucio says this to Isabella, who has just been asked to plead for her brother’s life and answers, “My power? Alas, I doubt.” His point: doubt does its damage quietly, by stopping you from trying, so you lose things you might have won without ever finding out whether you could.
Worth knowing
Isabella takes the advice: she goes to plead, and the rest of the play turns on that attempt.
If something of your own is sitting heavy — /talk is a quieter room.
The quote is checked against the original text. The plain-words note is an AI-assisted draft. How AI is used