"Timon will to the woods; where he shall find The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind. The gods confound — hear me, you good gods all — The Athenians both within and out that wall! And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen."

"I'll example you with thievery: The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun; The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief, That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n From general excrement: each thing's a thief: The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power Have uncheck'd theft."

"When we for recompense have prais'd the vile, It stains the glory in that happy verse Which aptly sings the good."

"Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy."

"Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power Hath conjur'd to attend! I know the merchant."

"Every man has his fault, and honesty is his."

"Every room Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy."

"If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accused by the ass; if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf; if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner; wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury; wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life; all thy safety were remotion, and thy defence, absence. What beast couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast? and what beast art thou already, that seest not thy loss in transformation!"

"Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; I pray for no man but myself: Grant I may never prove so fond, To trust man on his oath or bond."

"'T is lack of kindly warmth they are not kind."

"We have seen better days."

"Not within the leaf of pity writ."

"Other incident throes That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain In life's uncertain voyage."

"No levelled malice Infects one comma in the course I hold; But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on, Leaving no track behind."

"The fire i th' flint Shows not till it be struck"

"Here's that, which is too weak to be a sinner, — Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire."

"I am not of that feather to shake off My friend when he most needs me."

"The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, Observe degree, priority, and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office, and custom, in all line of order."

"Take but degree away, untune that string, And hark, what discord follows! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores, And make a sop of all this solid globe."

"He that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding."

"There is seen The baby figure of the giant mass Of things to come at large."

"His heart and hand both open and both free; For what he has he gives, what thinks, he shows; Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty."

"And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane, Be shook to airy air."

"The end crowns all; And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it."

"Perséverance, dear my lord, Keeps honour bright: to have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery."

"Modest doubt is call’d The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches To the bottom of the worst."

"I have had my labour for my travail."

"Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing."

"The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance."

"Time is like a fashionable host, That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand; And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, Grasps-in the comer: the welcome ever smiles, And farewell goes out sighing."

"They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one."

"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for Oblivion, A great-siz'd monster of ingratitudes."

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

"All, with one consent, praise new-born gawds, Though they are made and moulded of things past; And give to dust, that is a little gilt, More laud than gilt o’erdusted."

"A plague of opinion! a man may wear it on both sides, like a leather jerkin."

"There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint and motive of her body."

"If you have writ your annals true, ’t is there That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I Flutter’d your Volscians in Corioli: Alone I did it! Boy!"

"The noble sister of Publicola, The moon of Rome; chaste as the icicle, That's curded by the frost from purest snow, And hangs on Dian's temple: – dear Valeria!"

"Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as day does night: it's spritely waking, audible, and full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mull'd, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war's a destroyer of men."

"Aufidius: What is thy name? Coriolanus: A name unmusical to the Volscians’ ears, And harsh in sound to thine."

"I think he'll be to Rome As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it By sovereignty of nature."

"O world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast sworn, Whose double bosoms seems to wear one heart, Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal and exercise Are still together, who twin, as 't were, in love Unseparable, shall within this hour, On a dissension of a doit, break out To bitterest enmity: so, fellest foes, Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep To take the one the other, by some chance, Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends And interjoin their issues. So with me: — My birthplace hate I, and my love's upon This enemy town. — I'll enter: if he slay me, He does fair justice; if he give me way, I'll do his country service."

"If it be honour in your wars to seem The same you are not, (which, for your best ends, You adopt your policy) how is it less or worse, That it shall hold companionship in peace With honour, as in war, since that to both It stands in like request?"

"His nature is too noble for the world: He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for’s power to thunder."

"Action is eloquence."

"Third Servant: Where dwellest thou? Coriolanus: Under the canopy."

"Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself, And so shall starve with feeding."

"I'll never Be such a gosling to obey instinct; but stand, As if a man were author of himself, And knew no other kin."