All Quotes

"The ox hath therefore stretch’d his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain’d a beard: The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud; And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undistinguishable."

"The human mortals."

"The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose; And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries."

"Once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song; And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid’s music."

"And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before, milk-white, now purple with love’s wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness."

"I’ll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes."

"My heart Is true as steel."

"I am your spaniel."

"We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo’d, and were not made to woo."

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows; Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine."

"You spotted snakes with double tongue. Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen."

"Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg’d spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offence."

"What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true-love take; Love and languish for his sake: Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, Pard, or boar with bristled hair, In thy eye that shall appear When thou wakest, it is thy dear: Wake when some vile thing is near."

"Night and silence.—Who is here?"

"The will of man is by his reason sway’d."

"Snout: You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom? Bottom: Some man or other must present wall: and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall."

"What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here."

"Flute: Must I speak now? Quince: Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again."

"O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray, masters! fly, masters! Help!"

"Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated."

"I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could."

"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days."

"Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes; Feed him with apricocks and dewberries, With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries; The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes, To have my love to bed and to arise; And pluck the wings from painted butterflies To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes: Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies."

"The moon methinks looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforced chastity."

"How now, mad spirit! What night-rule now about this haunted grove?"

"My mistress with a monster is in love."

"There is no following her in this fierce vein."

"I go, I go; look how I go, Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

"And those things do best please me, That do befall preposterously."

"So we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted; But yet an union in partition, Two lovely berries moulded on one stem."

"If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces."

"I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching."

"The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree."

"He doth nothing but talk of his horse."

"I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth."

"God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man."

"When he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast."

"I will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I’ll be married to a sponge."

"If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana."

"I dote on his very absence."

"My meaning, in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he is sufficient."

"Ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves."

"To smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you."

"How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a Christian."

"If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. He hates our sacred nation; and he rails, Even there where merchants most do congregate, On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, Which he calls interest."

"The devil can cite scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek; A goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"

"Signior Antonio, many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me About my moneys and my usances: Still have I borne it with a patient shrug; For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, And all for use of that which is mine own. Well then, it now appears you need my help: Go to, then; you come to me, and you say, 'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so; You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold: moneys is your suit. What should I say to you? Should I not say 'Hath a dog money? is it possible A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' or Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key, With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this, — 'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; You spurn'd me such a day; another time You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies I'll lend you thus much moneys?'"

"If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not As to thy friends; for when did friendship take A breed for barren metal of his friend?"

"O father Abram, what these Christians are, Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect The thoughts of others!"