All Quotes

"A beauty-waning and distressed widow, Even in the afternoon of her best days."

"Alas, why would you heap this care on me?"

"But shall we wear these glories for a day? Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them?"

"O bitter consequence, That Edward still should live, true noble prince. Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull. Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead, And I would have it suddenly performed!"

"Say, have I thy consent that they shall die?"

"I must be married to my brother's daughter, Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass: — Murder her brothers, and then marry her! Uncertain way of gain! But I am in So far in blood, that sin will pluck on sin. Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye."

"King Richard: I am not in the giving vein to-day. Buckingham: Why, then resolve me whe'r you will or no. King Richard: Tut, tut, thou troublest me; I am not in the vein."

"Their lips like four red roses on a stalk."

"The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham’s bosom, And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night."

"So; now prosperity begins to mellow, And drop into the rotten mouth of death. Here in these confines slily have I lurk’d, To watch the waning of mine enemies. A dire induction am I witness to, And will to France; hoping the consequence Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical."

"Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day; Compare dead happiness with living woe; Think that thy babes were sweeter 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."

"Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women Rail on the Lord’s anointed."

"Bloody you are. Bloody will be thy end. Shame sets your life, And will your death attend."

"Look, what is done cannot be now amended: Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes, Which after-hours give leisure to repent. If I did take the kingdom from your sons, To make amends, I'll give it to your daughter. If I have kill'd the issue of your womb, To quicken your increase, I will beget Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter."

"An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told."

"Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd? Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd?"

"Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny, Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we march'd on without impediment."

"True hope is swift, and flies with swallows' wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings."

"The king's name is a tower of strength, Which they upon the adverse faction want."

"Despair and die!"

"Give me another horse,—bind up my wounds,— Have mercy, Jesu!—Soft! I did but dream.— O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!— The lights burn blue.—It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. What, do I fear myself? there's none else by: Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. Is there a murderer here? No;—yes, I am: Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why,— Lest I revenge. What,—myself upon myself! Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? for any good That I myself have done unto myself? O, no! alas, I rather hate myself For hateful deeds committed by myself! I am a villain: yet I lie, I am not."

"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain."

"I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; And if I die, no soul shall pity me. Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself Find in myself no pity to myself."

"The early village cock Hath twice done salutation to the morn."

"By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond!"

"Not shine to-day! Why, what is that to me, More than to Richmond? for the selfsame heaven That frowns on me, looks sadly upon him."

"A thing devised by the enemy."

"Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe; Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law."

"Rescue, my lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue! The king enacts more wonders than a man, Daring an opposite to every danger; His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights, Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death: Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost!"

"I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die! I think there be six Richmonds in the field; Five have I slain to-day instead of him."

"God and your arms be prais'd, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead."

"Inter their bodies as becomes their births. Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled, That in submission will return to us; And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, We will unite the white rose and the red: — Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction, That long have frown'd upon their emnity!"

"In his 1916 essay "The Exceptions", Sigmund Freud interprets Richard's opening soliloquy saying "we all demand reparation for early wounds to our narcissism, our self-love.""

"In Iran one cannot stage... Richard III... because no Iranian should see the death of a prince or a king on the stage. He might jump to conclusions, as if contemporary Iranian history itself is devoid of attempts at regicide."

"The thing that is always so surprising about plays written in another century is how remarkably elastic they are. When you listen to the way in which Shakespeare attacks relationships, for example, even though the words may start off sounding foreign, in actuality they are so accessible, the motivations so clear, the resonances so contemporary. When you put it in a modern context - we could well be in a place with someone like Gaddafi or Mubarak - it becomes apparent how Richard III resonates with that type of personality, with media and manipulation, alliances and petty jealousies."

"Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noisome; therefore I will depart unkissed."

"Done to death by slanderous tongues."

"Get thee a wife, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn."

"An arrow shot From a well-experienc’d archer hits the mark His eye doth level at."

"3 Fisherman: Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 1 Fisherman: Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones."

"Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen, That neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes, Envy the great, nor do the low despise."

"I see that Time's the king of men, For he's their parent, and he is their grave, And gives them what he will, not what they crave."

"I never kill'd a mouse, nor hurt a fly."

"Look in the chronicles; we came in with Richard Conqueror."

"Let the world slide."

"I’ll not budge an inch."

"Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece, And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell, And twenty more such names and men as these Which never were, nor no man ever saw."

"No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en; In brief, sir, study what you most affect."

"There’s small choice in rotten apples."

"I burn, I pine, I perish."