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Shakespeare Quotes from Othello
It doth abhor me now I speak the word.— filed under Abhorrence
I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster.— filed under Beauty
O, it comes o'er my memory, As doth the raven o'er the infected house, Boding to all.— filed under Birds-Raven
Mine's not an idle cause.— filed under Cause
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis some thing, nothing.— filed under Character
* * * * * * He hath a daily beauty in his life That makes me ugly.— filed under Character
Why, now I see there's mettle in thee, and even from this instant do build on thee a better opinion than ever before.— filed under Character
Preferment goes by letter and affection.— filed under Choice
O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil!— filed under Comparisons
Confess thee freely of thy sin; For to deny each article with oath Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception That I do groan withal.— filed under Confession
Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago, If thou but think'st him wrong'd and mak'st his ear A stranger to thy thoughts.— filed under Conspiracy
But, alas! to make me A fixed figure for the time of scorn To point his slow unmoving finger at!— filed under Content
If it were now to die, 'Twere now to be most happy; for I fear My soul hath her content so absolute That not another comfort like to this Succeeds in unknown fate. U.— filed under Content
For I am nothing, if not critical.— filed under Criticism
The tyrant custom, most grave senators, Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war My thrice-driven bed of down.— filed under Dancing
Upon this hint I spake; She loved me for the dangers I had passed And I loved her that she did pity them.— filed under Danger
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt, And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.— filed under Death
Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward me, For making him egregiously an ass.— filed under Deceit
For nothing canst thou to damnation add Greater than that.— filed under Despair
Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop, Not to outsport discretion.— filed under Discretion
No hinge nor loop, To hang a doubt on; or woe upon thy life!— filed under Doubt
To be once in doubt Is once to be resolv'd.— filed under Doubt
I do perceive here a divided duty.— filed under Easter
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, That make ambition virtue! O, farewell! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife.— filed under Farewell
Mysteries of Udolpho. But, O vain boast! Who can control his fate?— filed under Fate
Fruits that blossom first will first be ripe.— filed under Fruits
Those that do teach young babes Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:— filed under Gentleness
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven, Before, behind thee and on every hand, Enwheel thee round!— filed under Gratitude
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Julius Cæsar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 135. Your name is great In mouths of wisest censure.— filed under Greatness
Nor doth the general care Take hold on me, for my particular grief Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature That it engluts and swallows other sorrows And it is still itself.— filed under Grief
Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains.— filed under Hatred
Well, God's above all; and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved.— filed under Hell
And now, in madness, Being full of supper and distempering draughts, Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come To start my quiet.— filed under Intemperance
Every inordinate cup is unblessed and the ingredient is a devil.— filed under Intemperance
I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking: I could wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment.— filed under Intemperance
I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me, I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast!— filed under Invention
O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!— filed under Invention
But jealous souls will not be answer'd so; They are not ever jealous for the cause, But jealous for they are jealous.— filed under Jealousy
O, beware, my lord of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!— filed under Jealousy
Though I perchance am vicious in my guess, As, I confess, it is my nature's plague To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy Shapes faults that are not.— filed under Jealousy
Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ.— filed under Jealousy
I have done the state some service, and they know 't; No more of that, I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice.— filed under Justice
O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity.— filed under Justice
Whip me such honest knaves.— filed under Knavery
They laugh that win.— filed under Laughter
Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes, That I have pass'd.— filed under Life
I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. Julius Cæsar. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 93. It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.— filed under Life
If heaven would make me such another world Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, I'ld not have sold her for it.— filed under Love
Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.— filed under Love
Upon this hint I spake; She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I lov'd her, that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have us'd: Here comes the lady; let her witness it.— filed under Love
What! keep a week away? seven days and nights? Eight score eight hours? and lovers' absent hours, More tedious than the dial eight score times? Oh, weary reckoning!— filed under Love
Let husbands know, Their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell, And have their palates both for sweet and sour, As husbands have.— filed under Matrimony
I am not merry; but I do beguile The thing I am by seeming otherwise.— filed under Merriment
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone Is the next way to draw new mischief on.— filed under Mischief
It is the very error of the moon : She comes more nearer earth than she was wont, And makes men mad.— filed under Monuments
This is the night That either makes me or fordoes me quite.— filed under Night
Let housewives make a skillet of my helm.— filed under Occupations-Culinary
The bloody book of law You shall yourself read in the bitter letter After your own sense.— filed under Occupations-Law
He is a soldier fit to stand by Cæsar And give direction.— filed under Occupations-Military
'Tis the soldier's life To have their balmy slumbers wak'd with strife.— filed under Occupations-Military
You may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar.— filed under Occupations-Navigation
Breakfast Table. VI. These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' the alehouse. C.— filed under Paradox
Lover. See CAYLEY'S Life of Raleigh. Vol. I. Ch. III. Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip? Some bloody passion shakes your very frame; These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope, They do not point on me.— filed under Passion
Had it pleas'd heaven To try me with affliction I should have found in some place of my soul A drop of patience.— filed under Patience
How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?— filed under Patience
Poor and content is rich and rich enough, But riches fineless is as poor as winter To him that ever fears he shall be poor.— filed under Poverty
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips.— filed under Poverty
If you bethink yourself of any crime Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace, Solicit for it straight.— filed under Prayer
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly followed. jj.— filed under Proverbs
'Tis neither here nor there.— filed under Borbonius
trans. When remedies are past, the griefs are ended By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended. X.— filed under Alexander Severus
Think on thy sins.— filed under Reflection
Abandon all remorse; On horror's head horrors accumulate.— filed under Remorse
But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed.— filed under Reputation
O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.— filed under Resignation
Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.— filed under Resignation
O most lame and impotent conclusion!— filed under Results
O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four times seven years; and since I could distinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man that knew how to love himself.— filed under Self-Love
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at; I am not what I am.— filed under Sincerity
Men should be what they seem; Or those that be not, would they might seem none!— filed under Sincerity
I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue, Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, Have not devised'd this slander.— filed under Slander
Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday. n..— filed under Sleep
This sorrow's heavenly; It strikes where it doth love.— filed under Sorrow
Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace; For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us'd 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.— filed under Speech
My lord shall never rest: I'll watch him, tame and talk him out of patience: His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift.— filed under Tea
If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.— filed under Tears
One, whose subdu'd eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum.— filed under Tears
To beguile many and be beguil'd by one.— filed under Temptation
He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n, Let him not know 't, and he's not robb'd at all.— filed under Thought
Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm. Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 9. The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief: He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.— filed under Thought
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.— filed under Thought
Are there no stones in heaven But what serve for the thunder?— filed under Tides
Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.— filed under Time
I spake of most disastr'us chances, 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.— filed under Treason
My life upon her faith!— filed under Trust
Trifles, light as air.— filed under Trifles
Unkindness may do much; And his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love.— filed under Unkindness
Old Sack. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.— filed under Wine And Spirits
O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!— filed under Wine And Spirits
Ah me, how weak a thing The heart of woman is! Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 39. A maid That paragons description and wild fame; One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, And in the essential vesture of creation Does tire the ingener.— filed under Woman
You are pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlours, wild-cats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.— filed under Woman
'Twas strange, 'twas passing strange; 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.— filed under Wooing
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 lov'd her, I should but teach him how to tell my story And that would woo her.— filed under Wooing
But words are words; I never yet did hear That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.— filed under Words
I know thou'rt full of love and honesty, And weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath.— filed under Words
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?— filed under Youth