All Quotes

"There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets off; some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone; and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task Would be as heavy to me as odious, but The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead, And makes my labours pleasures."

"Full many a lady I have ey'd with best regard; and many a time The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought my too diligent ear; for several virtues Have I lik'd several women, never any With so full soul, but some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she ow'd, And put it to the foil; but you, O you, So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature's best!"

"Miranda: Do you love me? Ferdinand: O heaven! O earth! Bear witness to this sound, And crown what I confess with kind event, If I speak true! If hollowly, invert What best is boded me to mischief! I, Beyond all limit of what else i' the world Do love, prize, honour you."

"Ferdinand: Wherefore weep you? Miranda: At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want."

"I am your wife, if you will marry me; If not, I'll die your maid. To be your fellow You may deny me; but I'll be your servant, Whether you will or no."

"Ferdinand: Here ’s my hand. Miranda: And mine, with my heart in ’t."

"Servant-monster! the folly of this island! They say there's but five upon this isle: we are three of them; if th' other two be brain'd like us, the state totters."

"How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I'll not serve him, he is not valiant."

"Ariel: Thou liest. Caliban: Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou: I would my valiant monster would destroy thee: I do not lie. Stephano: Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in's tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth."

"He that dies pays all debts: I defy thee. Mercy upon us!"

"Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, I cried to dream again."

"Alonso: Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these? Sebastian: A living drollery. Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning there. Antonio: I'll believe both; And what does else want credit, come to me, And I'll be sworn 'tis true; travellers ne'er did lie, Though fools at home condemn 'em."

"A kind Of excellent dumb discourse."

"You are three men of sin, whom Destiny, — That hath to instrument this lower world And what is in't, —the never-surfeited sea Hath caus'd to belch up you; and on this island Where man doth not inhabit, you 'mongst men Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad; And even with such-like valour, men hang and drown Their proper selves. [Alonso, Sebastian, etc., draw their swords] You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of Fate; the elements, Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish One dowle that's in my plume."

"O, it is monstrous, monstrous! Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd The name of Prospero; it did bass my trespass. Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded; and, I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded."

"The strongest oaths are straw To th' fire i' the blood. Be more abstemious, Or else good night your vow!"

"Ceres: Hail, many-coloured messenger, that ne'er Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter; Who, with thy saffron wings, upon my flow'rs Diffusest honey drops, refreshing show'rs; And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres and my unshrubb'd down, Rich scarf to my proud earth; — why hath thy Queen Summon'd me hither to this short-grass'd green? Iris: A contract of true love to celebrate, And some donation freely to estate On the blest lovers."

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep."

"Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall; we now are near his cell."

"Trinculo: Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool — Stephano: There is not only disgrace and dishonor in that, monster, but an infinite loss."

"With foreheads villainous low."

"Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, Yet, with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury Do I take part; the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance."

"Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves; And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him When he comes back; you demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid — Weak masters though ye be — I have be-dimm'd The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds, And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault Set roaring war. To the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak With his own bolt; the strong-bas'd promontory Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluck'd up The pine and cedar. Graves at my command, Have wak'd their sleepers, op'd, and let 'em forth, By my so potent art. But this rough magic I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd Some heavenly music — which even now I do, — To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book."

"Where the bee sucks, there suck I; In a cowslip's bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat's back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough."

"O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!"

"Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, I must be here confin'd by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair, Unless I be reliev'd by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence set me free."

"I think we're supposed to identify with Prospero and Miranda, but I was disturbed by Ariel's servitude and Caliban's slavery; and even though Prospero eventually pardons Caliban, I had trouble with the play's relentless mockery of Caliban as a "savage.""

"Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so, for my peculiar end: For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In compliment extern, 'tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at: I am not what I am."

"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe."

"Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs."

"Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them."

"Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, My very noble and approved good masters, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true, I have married her: The very head and front of my offending Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace: For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used Their dearest action in the tented field, And little of this great world can I speak, More than pertains to feats of broil and battle, And therefore little shall I grace my cause In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience, I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, What conjuration and what mighty magic, For such proceeding I am charged withal, I won his daughter."

"Her father loved me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes, That I have passed. I ran it through, even from my boyish days, To the very moment that he bade me tell it; Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents by flood and field Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach, Of being taken by the insolent foe And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence And portance in my travels' history: Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle, Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven It was my hint to speak,--such was the process; And of the Cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear Would Desdemona seriously incline: But still the house-affairs would draw her thence: Which ever as she could with haste dispatch, She'ld come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse: which I observing, Took once a pliant hour, and found good means To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart That I would all my pilgrimage dilate, Whereof by parcels she had something heard, But not intentively: I did consent, And often did beguile her of her tears, When I did speak of some distressful stroke That my youth suffer'd. My story being done, She gave me for my pains a world of sighs: She swore, in faith, twas strange, 'twas passing strange, 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful: She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me, And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, I should but teach him how to tell my story. And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake: She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used: Here comes the lady; let her witness it."

"That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm of fortunes May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdued Even to the very quality of my lord:"

"But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow."

"The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief."

"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: She has deceived her father, and may thee."

"Thus do I ever make my fool my purse."

"I hate the Moor; And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets He has done my office: I know not if 't be true; But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety."

"The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as tenderly be led by the nose As asses are."

"If after every tempest come such calms, May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!"

"She never yet was foolish that was fair; For even her folly help'd her to an heir."

"Knavery's plain face is never seen till us'd."

"Now, by heaven, My blood begins my safer guides to rule; And passion, having my best judgment collied, Assays to lead the way. 'Zounds, if I stir, Or do but lift this arm, the best of you Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know How this foul rout began, who set it on; And he that is approv'd in this offence, Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth, Shall lose me. What! in a town of war, Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear, To manage private and domestic quarrel? In night, and on the court and guard of safety? 'Tis monstrous. Iago, who began't?"

"But men are men; the best sometimes forget:"

"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving."

"And what's he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest, Probal to thinking and indeed the course To win the Moor again? For 'tis most easy The inclining Desdemona to subdue In any honest suit: she's framed as fruitful As the free elements. And then for her To win the Moor — were't to renounce his baptism, All seals and symbols of redeemed sin, His soul is so enfetter'd to her love, That she may make, unmake, do what she list, Even as her appetite shall play the god With his weak function. How am I then a villain To counsel Cassio to this parallel course, Directly to his good? Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows, As I do now: for whiles this honest fool Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor, I'll pour this pestilence into his ear, That she repeals him for her body's lust; And by how much she strives to do him good, She shall undo her credit with the Moor. So will I turn her virtue into pitch, And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all."

"Men should be what they seem; Or those that be not, would they might seem none!"

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; ’Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed."

"O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on."