Do Not Stand

[cleanroomguy]

Where does this quip come from:
"do not stand on the order of your going"

[mightywease]

"Macbeth" I think -

"Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once" it's towards the end of the Banquet scene

[mightywease]

Yep, just checked and it's Act III Scene IV "Macbeth"

At once, good-night:
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.

[barrowman]

The quotation is : Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once. It is from Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 4. by William Shakespeare

[chakka35]

It arises from the fact that guests, when in royal company, had to leave in reverse order of rank. Royalty left first, then the senior nobility, then the juniors, and so on.
Lady Macbeth wanted to get rid of them all at once and fast, so told them, in effect "Don't worry about the order in which you go, just GO!".