GLOUCESTER: Why, I, in this weak piping time
of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.
Richard III, I, i
GLOUCESTER: And therefore, since I cannot
prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain.
Richard III, I, i
GLOUCESTER: Plots have I laid, inductions
dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams.
Richard III, I, i
GLOUCESTER: Simple, plain Clarence! I do love
thee so,
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
If heaven will take the present at our hands.
Richard III, I, i
GLOUCESTER: And, if I fall not in my deep
intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live:
Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!
Richard III, I, i
LADY ANNE: O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Richard III, I, ii
GLOUCESTER: But shall I live in hope?
LADY ANNE: All men, I hope, live so.
Richard III, I, ii
GLOUCESTER: Was ever woman in this humour
woo'd?
Was ever woman in this humour won?
I'll have her; but I will not keep her long.
Richard III, I, ii
GLOUCESTER: I'll be at charges for a
looking-glass,
And entertain some score or two of tailors,
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
Will maintain it with some little cost.
Richard III, I, ii
GLOUCESTER: Shine out, fair sun, till I have
bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.
Richard III, I, ii
QUEEN MARGARET: They that stand high have many
blasts to shake them;
And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.
Richard III, I, iii
QUEEN MARGARET: Live each of you the subjects
to his hate,
And he to yours, and all of you to God's!
Richard III, I, iii
CLARENCE: Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it
was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
Richard III, I, iv
BRAKENBURY: I will not reason what is meant
hereby,
Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.
Richard III, I, iv
SECOND MURDERER: 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.
FIRST MURDERER: Remember our reward, when the deed is done.
SECOND MURDERER: 'Zounds, he dies: I had forgot the reward.
Richard III, I, iv
FIRST MURDERER: Where is thy conscience now?
SECOND MURDERER: In the Duke of Gloucester's purse.
Richard III, I, iv
GLOUCESTER: But he, poor soul, by your first
order died,
And that a winged Mercury did bear:
Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,
That came too lag to see him buried.
Richard III, II, i
SECOND CITIZEN: I fear, I fear 'twill prove a giddy world.
Richard III, II, iii
THIRD CITIZEN: When clouds are seen, wise men
put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
All may be well; but if God sort it so,
'Tis more than we deserve or I expect.
Richard III, II, iii
QUEEN ELIZABETH: I see, as in a map, the end of all.
Richard III, II, iv
PRINCE EDWARD: But say, my lord, it were not
register'd,
Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,
Even to the general all-ending day.
Richard III, III, i
GLOUCESTER: So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
Richard III, III, i
CATESBY: 'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious
lord,
When men are unprepared and look not for it.
Richard III, III, ii
GLOUCESTER: If? Thou protector of this damned
strumpet,
Talk'st thou to me of 'ifs'? Thou art a traitor:
Off with his head!
Richard III, III, iv
HASTINGS: O momentary grace of mortal
men,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hopes in air of your good looks,
Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast,
Ready, with every nod, to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.
Richard III, III, iv
BUCKINGHAM: Tut, I can counterfeit the deep
tragedian;
Speak and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion: ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices,
At any time, to grace my stratagems.
Richard III, III, v
GLOUCESTER: And to that end we wished your
lord-ship here,
T' avoid the censures of the carping world.
Richard III, III, v
QUEEN ELIZABETH: Stay, yet look back with me
unto the Tower.
Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes
Whom envy hath immured within your walls!
Rough cradle for such little pretty ones!
Rude ragged nurse, old sullen playfellow
For tender princes, use my babies well!
So foolish sorrow bids your stones farewell.
Richard III, IV, i
KING RICHARD III: Shall I be plain? I wish the
bastards dead;
And I would have it suddenly perform'd.
Richard III, IV, ii
KING RICHARD III: Uncertain way of gain! But I
am in
So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.
Richard III, IV, ii
QUEEN MARGARET: So, now prosperity begins to
mellow
And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
Richard III, IV, iv
QUEEN ELIZABETH: O thou well skill'd in
curses, stay awhile,
And teach me how to curse mine enemies!
QUEEN MARGARET: Forbear to sleep the nights,
and fast the days;
Compare dead happiness with living woe;
Think that thy babes were fairer than they were,
And he that slew them fouler than he is:
Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse:
Revolving this will teach thee how to curse.
Richard III, IV, iv
KING RICHARD III: Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.
Richard III, IV, iv
KING RICHARD III: Go, gentleman, every man
unto his charge
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls:
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.
Richard III, V, iii
KING RICHARD III: Let us to it
pell-mell,
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.
Richard III, V, iii
KING RICHARD III: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
Richard III, V, iv
KING RICHARD III: Slave, I have set my life
upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die.
Richard III, V, iv
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: For they say every why hath a wherefore.
The Comedy of Errors, II, ii
ABBESS: In food, in sport, and life-preserving
rest
To be disturbed would mad man or beast.
The Comedy of Errors, V, i
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE: And thereupon these errors are arose.
The Comedy of Errors, V, i
SLY: I'll not budge an inch, boy.
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction 1
LORD: O monstrous beast! how like a swine he
lies!
Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction 1
SLY: Come, madam wife, sit by my side and let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction 2
LUCENTIO: Here let us breathe and haply
institute
A course of learning and ingenious studies.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i
TRANIO: Music and poesy use to quicken
you;
The mathematics and the metaphysics,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i
TRANIO: No profit grows where is no pleasure
ta'en:
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i
HORTENSIO: Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i
GREMIO: O this learning, what a thing it is!
The Taming of the Shrew, I, ii
PETRUCHIO: And kiss me, Kate, we will be married o'Sunday.
The Taming of the Shrew, II, i
BIANCA: Old fashions please me best; I am not
so nice,
To change true rules for old inventions.
The Taming of the Shrew, III, i
PETRUCHIO: This is a way to kill a wife with
kindness;
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
The Taming of the Shrew, IV, i
WIDOW: He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.
The Taming of the Shrew, V, ii
TITUS: Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!
Titus Andronicus, I, i
TITUS: There greet in silence, as the dead are
wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars!
O sacred receptacle of my joys,
Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,
How many sons of mine hast thou in store,
That thou wilt never render to me more!
Titus Andronicus, I, i
TAMORA: O cruel, irreligious piety!
Titus Andronicus, I, i
TITUS: In peace and honour rest you here, my
sons;
Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no damned drugs, here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!
Titus Andronicus, I, i
MARCUS: Sorrow concealed, like an oven
stopp'd,
Doth burn the heart to cinders where it is.
Titus Andronicus, II, iv
TITUS: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes,
stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed,
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd,
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the agèd wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemnèd sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
Titus Andronicus, III, i
TITUS: For two and twenty sons I never
wept,
Because they died in honour's lofty bed;
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears.
Titus Andronicus, III, i