DESDEMONA: I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.
OTHELLO: O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles,
That quicken even with blowing.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 4, Scene 2. When Desdemona expresses the hope that her husband thinks she is honest, meaning loyal, Othello makes this sarcastic reply. In a simile, the suspicious Othello compares her honesty to a swarm of reproducing flies on rotting meat in a slaughterhouse. They are loyal to the meal, but when a light breeze blows on them they fly away.