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Shakespeare Quotes from Henry IV
232 passages from Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations (1892), each filed under the passion it answers.
Let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds; or 1 swear I will have it in a particular ballad, with mine own picture on the top of it.— filed under Achievement
In poison there is physic; and these news Having been well, that would have made me sick; Being sick, have in some measure made me well. And as the wretch whose fever-weaken'd joints, Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire. Cut of his keeper's arms; even so my limbs, Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief, Are thrice themselves.— filed under Adversity
Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, that are written down old, with all the characters of age? Have you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a yellow cheek? a white beard? a decreasing leg? an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken? your wind short? your chin double? your wit single? and every part about you blasted with antiquity? and will you yet call yourself young? O fye, Sir John.— filed under Age
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere ; Nor can one England brook a double reign, Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.— filed under Ambition
And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now. What! drunk with choler? stay, and pause awhile.— filed under Anger
This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy, an't your lordship ; a kind of sleeping in the blood, a whoreson tingling. please— filed under Apoplexy
O let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans applaud our sport.— filed under Ardour, Military
Within a ken our army lies; Upon mine honour, all too confident To give admittance to a thought of fear.— filed under Army
I have forsworn his company hourly, any time this two and-twenty years, and yet I'm bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged; it could not be else.— filed under Attachment
! give me Call you that backing your friends? a plague upon such backing 1 give me them that will face me. them that will face me.— filed under Backing
An I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison.— filed under Ballads
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms. Being mounted, and both roused in their seats, Their neighing coursers daring of the spur, Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down, Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel, And the loud trumpet blowing them together.— filed under Battle
Let each man do his best: and here draw I A sword, whose temper I intend to stain With the best blood that I can meet withal, In the adventure of this perilous day. Now, Esperance! Percy! - and set on. Sound all the lofty instruments of war, And by that music let us all embrace: For heaven to earth, some of us never shall A second time do such a courtesy.— filed under Battle
Of thy amaz'd pernicious enemy. In single opposition, hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glendower: Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Who then affrighted with their bloody looks, Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.— filed under Battle
To say, there is no vice but beggary. What! a young knave, and beg! Is there not wars? is subjects ? Though it be a shame to there not employment? Doth not the king lack Do not the rebels need soldiers? Though it be a shame to than to be be on any side but one, it is worse shame to beg than to be than the name of rebellion— filed under Beggars
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary, And all the courses of my life do show I am not in the roll of common men.— filed under Bombast
Timon is shrunk indeed; And he, that's once denied, will hardly speed. T. A. iii. 2. I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse; borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable.— filed under Borrowing
The truth is, I am only old in judgment and understanding; and he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the money, and have at him.— filed under Capacity
Captain! thou abominable cheater, art thou not ashamed to be called captain? If captains were of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking their names upon you before you have earned them. You a captain, you slave! for what? A captain! these villains will make the word captain odious: therefore, captains had need look to it.— filed under Captain, The Title Of, Prostituted
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault. Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, blood, (And that's the dearest grace it renders you) Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage, Defect of manners, want of government, Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain: The least of which haunting a nobleman, Loseth men's hearts; and leaves behind a stain Upon the beauty of all parts besides, Beguiling them of commendation.— filed under Captiousness
I'll give thrice so much land To any well deserving friend; But in the way of bargain, mark you me,— filed under Caviller
A rotten cause abides no handling.— filed under Caviller
We, in the world's wide mouth— filed under Censure
I never in my life Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly, Unless a brother should a brother dare To gentle exercise and proof of arms. IHe gave you all the duties of a man; Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue; Spoke your deservings like a chronicle; Making you ever better than his praise, By still dispraising praise, valued with you: And, which became him like a prince indeed, He made a blushing cital of himself; And chid his truant youth with such a grace, As if he master'd there a double spirit, Of teaching and of learning instantly.— filed under Challenge
Deliver all with charity. For he is gracious if he be observ'd; He hath a tear for pity, and a hand— filed under Charity
I am to day i' the vein of chivalry. For my part, I may speak it to my shame,— filed under Cihivalry
The times are wild; contention, like a horse Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose, And bears down all before him.— filed under Commotion
It is certain, that either wise bearing, or ignorant car riage is caught as men take diseases, one of another; therefore, let men take heed of their company.— filed under Company
There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth— filed under Company
the company thou keepest. Well, heaven send the prince a better companion.— filed under Company
A Corinthian, a lad of mettle.— filed under Corinthian
For full well he knows, He cannot so precisely weed this land, As his misdoubts present occasion; His foes are so enrooted with his friends, That, plucking to unfix an enemy, He doth unfasten so, and shake a friend. So that this land, like an offensive wife, That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes, As he is striking, holds his infant up, And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm That was uprear'd to execution.— filed under Difficulties Of
But howso'er, no simple man that sees This jarring discord of nobility, This shouldering of each other in the court, This factious bandying of their favorites,— filed under Ourage
A coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it.— filed under Toward
Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll forswear arms.— filed under Toward
A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too!— filed under Toward
O polish'd perturbation! golden care! That keeps the ports of slumber open wide To many a watchful night! sleep with it now! Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet As he, whose brow with homely biggin bound, Snores out the watch of night.— filed under Crown, Regal
Do but think How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown; Within whose circuit is Elysium, And all that poets feign of bliss and joy. H. IV. PT. 111. 1. 2. Heaven knows, my son, By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways, I met this crown; and I myself know well, How troublesome it sat upon my head. H. IV. PT. II. iv.— filed under Crown, Regal
I spake unto the crown as having sense, And thus upbraided it: The care on thee depending, Hath fed upon the body of my father; Therefore thou, best of gold, art worst of gold; Other, less fine in carat, is more precious, Preserving life in med'cine potable; But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege, Accusing it, I put it on my head; To try with it, as with an enemy, That had before my face murder'd my father,- The quarrel of a true inheritor.— filed under Crown, Regal
Therefore, friends, As far as to the sepulchre of Christ, (Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross We are impressed and ingag'd to fight,) Forthwith a power of English shall we levy; Whose arms were moulded in their mother's womb, To chase these pagans, in those holy fields, Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet, Which fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd,— filed under Crusade
"The purpose you undertake is dangerous :"-why, that's certain; 'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink ;but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.— filed under Danger
As full of peril and adventurous spirit As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud On the uncertain footing of a spear.— filed under Daring
O, such a day, So fought, so follow'd, and so fairly won, Came not, till now, to dignify the times, Since Cæsar's fortunes!— filed under Day
Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity Is held from falling with so weak a wind, That it will quickly drop.— filed under Death
He has walk'd the way of nature.— filed under Death
By his gates of breath, There lies a downy feather, which stirs not: Did he suspire, that light and weightless down Perforce must move. - My gracious lord! my father! This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep, That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd So many English kings.— filed under Death
What I did, I did in honour, Led by the impartial conduct of my soul; And never shall you see that I will beg— filed under Defiance
Let them come; They come like sacrifices in their trim, And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoky war, All hot and bleeding will we offer them; The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit Up to the ears in blood.— filed under Defiance
Him did you leave, Second to none, unseconded by you.— filed under Desert
What a slave art thou to hack thy sword as thou hast done; and then say, it was in fight!— filed under Device
Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine.-Pistol, I will double charge thee with— filed under Dignity
Thou tremblest, and the whiteness in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand. Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night, And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd. But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue.— filed under Dismay
His death (whose spirit lent a fire Even to the dullest peasant in his camp,) Being bruited once, took fire and heat away From the best temper'd courage in his troops; For from his metal was his party steel'd; Which once in him abated, all the rest Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead. And as the thing that's heavy in itself, Upon enforcement, flies with greater speed; So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss, Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear, That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim, Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety, Fly from the field.— filed under Dismay
Our army is dispers'd already; Like youthful steers unyok'd, they take their courses East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up, Each hurries towards his home and sporting place.— filed under Dispersion
In thy faint slumbers, I by thee have watch'd, And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars: Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed; Cry, Courage!-to the field! And thou hast talk'd Of sallies, and retires; of trenches, tents, Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets; Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin; Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain, And all the currents of a heady fight. H. IV. PT 1 ii.— filed under Dreams
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war, And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep, That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow, Like bubbles on a late disturbed stream: And in thy face strange motions have appear'd, Such as we see when men restrain their breath On some great sudden haste.— filed under Dreams
Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions: and the teeming earth Is with a kind of cholic pinch'd and vex'd By the imprisoning of unruly wind Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving, Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down Steeples and moss-grown towers.— filed under Earthquakes
You may thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er posting that action.— filed under Fond
What trick, what device, what starting hole, canst thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent shame.— filed under Evasion
For, well you know, we of th' offending side Must keep aloof from strict arbitrament: And stop all sight-holes; every loop, from whence The eye of reason may pry in upon us. H. IV. PT. I. iv.— filed under Evasion
Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.— filed under Exasperation
Quit all offences with as clear excuse, As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge Myself of many I am charg'd withal: Yet such extenuation let me beg, As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,- Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,- By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers, I may, for some things true, wherein my youth Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,— filed under Extenuation
Brave Percy: Fare thee well, great heart! Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk ! When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound; But now, two paces of the vilest earth Is room enough.— filed under Fallen Greatness
I have much to say on behalf of that Fallstaff.— filed under Falsehood
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven! Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave, But not remember'd in thy epitaph.— filed under Fame
O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth, I better brook the loss of brittle life, Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword my flesh But thought's the slave of life, and life, time's fool; And time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop.— filed under Fame
O heavens! that one might read the book of fate; And see the revolutions of the times Make mountains level, and the continent (Weary of solid firmness) melt itself Into the sea! and, other times, to see The beachy girdle of the ocean Too wide for Neptune's hips: how chances mock, And changes fill, the cup of alteration, With divers liquors!— filed under Fate
What fates impose, that men must needs abide, It boots not to resist both wind and tide.— filed under Fate
O, who shall believe, But you misuse the reverence of your place; Employ the countenance and grace of heaven, As a false favourite does his prince's name— filed under Favour
There is not such a word Spoke of in Scotland, as this term of fear.— filed under Fear
Heavens, that I were a lord! Why, what a candy deal of courtesy This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!— filed under Flattery
fession of fortune-telling. FRACTURED LIMB, HEALED, STRONGER FOR THE ACCIDENT. And therefore be assur'd, my good lord marshal, If we do now make our atonement well, Our peace will, like a broken limb united, Grow stronger for the breaking— filed under Fortune
By heaven, I cannot flatter! I defy The tongues of soothers; but a braver place In my heart's love, hath no man than yourself; Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.— filed under Friend
To every purpose! For this the foolish over-careful fathers Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care Their bones with industry; For this they have engrossed and pil'd up The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold; For this they have been thoughtful to invest Their sons with arts, and martial exercises: When, like the bee, tolling from every flower, The virtuous sweets; Our thighs are pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey, We bring it to the hive; and, like the bees, Are murder'd for our pains.— filed under Gold
See, sons, what things you are! How quickly nature falls into revolt, When gold becomes her object.— filed under Gold
Well, I cannot last for ever: But it was always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good thing, to make it too common. If you will needs say I am an old man, you should give me rest. I would to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is. I were better to be eaten to death with rust, than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.— filed under Good Things
Fat paunches have lean pates; and dainty bits Make rich the ribs, but bank'rout quite the wits. L. L. i. 1. Make less thy body, hence, and more thy grace:— filed under Gormandizing
A plague of sighing and grief! it blows a man up like a bladder.— filed under Grief
My lord ;-I found the prince in the next room, Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks; With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow, That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood, Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife With gentle eye-drops.— filed under Grief
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd, What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, And find our griefs heavier than our offences.— filed under Grief
Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds; And he, the noble image of my youth, Is overspread with them: therefore my grief Stretches itself beyond the hour of death.— filed under Rief
Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling, and a rich.— filed under Habit
Nor worship'd with a waxen epitaph. By his light, Did all the chivalry of England move To do brave acts: he was, indeed, the glass Wherein the noble youth-did dress themselves.— filed under Hero, Military, Pretended
Gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon.— filed under Highwaymen
Because his painted skin contents the eye? By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon: Or dive into the bottom of the deep, Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, And pluck up drowned honour by the locks; So he, that doth redeem her thence, might wear, Without corrival, all her dignities:— filed under Honour
it:-therefore I'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism.— filed under Honour
A cause on foot Lives so in hope, as in an early spring We see the appearing buds; which, to prove fruit, Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair, That frosts will bite them.— filed under Hope
Created only to calumniate. It never yet did hurt, To lay down likelihoods, and forms of hope.— filed under Hope
I have sounded the very base string of humility.— filed under Humility
I am now of all humours, that have showed themselves humours, since the old days of goodman Adam, to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight.— filed under Humour
O, it is much, that a lie, with a slight oath, and a jest, with a sad brow, will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders.— filed under Jest
It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury. * * Who lin'd himself with hope, Eating the air on promise of supply, Flattering himself with project of a power Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts And so, with great imagination, Proper to madmen, led his powers to death, And, winking, leap'd into destruction. H. IV. PT. II. i.— filed under Infatuation
Being fed by us, you us'd us so, As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird, Useth the sparrow: did oppress our nest; Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk, That even our love durst not come near your sight, For fear of swallowing.— filed under Ingratitude
What, will you make a younker of me? shall I not take mine ease in mine inn, but I shall have my pocket picked.— filed under Inn
More than your force move us to gentleness. Blunt not his love; Nor lose the good advantage of his grace, By seeming cold, or careless of his will, For he is gracious if he be observ'd.— filed under Kindness
O majesty! When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,— filed under Kings
When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our griefs, We are denied access unto his person, Even by those men that most have done us wrong.— filed under Kings
The skipping king he ambled up and down, With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits.— filed under Kings
I saw young Harry with his beaver on, His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,- KING HENRY V.,-continued. Rise from the ground, like feather'd Mercury, And vaulted with such ease into his seat, As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, And witch the world with noble horsemanship.— filed under Kings
In murders and in outrage, bloody here; But when, from under this terrestrial ball, He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines, And darts his light through every guilty hole, Then murders, treasons, and detested sins, The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs, Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves? R.II. iii. 2 _'S ADVISER. That man, that sits within a monarch's heart, And ripens in the sunshine of his favour, Would he abuse the countenance of the king, Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach,— filed under King's Absence And Return, Typified
I understand thy kisses, and thou mine, And that's a feeling disputation.— filed under Kiss
Use his men well, for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite.— filed under Knaves
Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in— filed under Knighthood
f What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight!— filed under Late Hours
With his eyes in flood with laughter. O, you shall see him laugh, till his face be like a wet cloak, ill laid up.— filed under Laughter
But, I pr'ythee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rusty curb of old father antic, the law?— filed under Law
Learning is but an adjunct to ourself. A mere hoard of gold, kept by a devil; till sack com— filed under Learning
These lies are like the father that begets them; gross as a mountain, open, palpable.— filed under Letter
This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to of the me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull-street; and every third word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute.— filed under Letter
Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of— filed under Liar
Signifying nothing. O gentlemen, the time of life is short; To spend that shortness basely, were too long, If life did ride upon a dial's point, Still ending at th' arrival of an hour.— filed under Life
And this same half-fac'd fellow, Shadow, -give me this man; he presents no mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife: And, for a retreat, how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run offi O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.— filed under Light
There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood-royal, if thou dar'st not stand for ten shillings.— filed under Lineage
Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven lent us here! K. J. i. 1. Well, then, once in my days I'll be a mad-cap. ad-capiv.— filed under Mad-Cap
Essentially mad, without seeming so.— filed under Madness
O! the blood more stirs, To rouse a lion than to start a hare.— filed under Magnanimity
His valour, shown upon our crests to-day, Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,— filed under Magnanimity
I have misused the king's press damnably.— filed under Mal-Administration
You rogne, here's lime in this sack too: There is nothing but roguery to be found in villainous man.— filed under Man
Go thy ways, old Jack; die when thou wilt, if manhood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the face of the earth, then am I a shotten herring.— filed under Manihood Deteriorated
lent congregation of vapours. Melancholy as a lover's lute.— filed under Melancholy
be paid her than she'll demand. You see, my good wenches, how men of merit are sought— filed under Merit
Themselves, when they be felt. Here is a dear and true industrious friend, Sir Walter Blount, new lighted from his horse, Stain'd with the variation of each soil Betwixt that Holmedon, and this seat of ours; And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.— filed under Messenger
Why, he is dead. See what a ready tongue suspicion hath ! He, that but fears the thing be would not know, Hath, by instinct, knowledge from others' eyes. That which he fear'd is chanc'd. Yet speak, Morton, Tell thou thy earl, his divination lies; And I will take it as a sweet disgrace; And make thee rich for doing me much wrong.— filed under Messenger
How doth my son, and brother? Thou tremblest, and the whiteness in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand. Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, Shakespeariar Dictionary. So dull, so dead in look, so woc-begone, Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night, And would have told him, half his Troy was burn'd; But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue, And I my Percy's death, ere thou report'st it. This thou would'st say, - Your son did thus, and thus; Your brother thus; so fought the noble Douglas; Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds; But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed, Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise, Ending with-brother, son, and all are dead.— filed under Messenger
Yea, this man's brow, like to a title leaf, Foretells the nature of a tragic volume; So looks the strong, whereon the imperial flood Hath left a witness'd usurpation. Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?— filed under Messenger
Hostess, clap to the doors; watch to-night, pray to-morrow.-Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be merry! Shall we have a play extempore?— filed under Mirth
But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money.— filed under Money
How chances mock, And changes fill the cup of alteration With divers liquors!— filed under Mutability
And there are twenty weak and wearied posts, Come from the north; and, as I came along, I met, and overtook, a dozen captains, Bareheaded, sweating, knocking at the taverns.— filed under News
garment, not by favour. Thy father's beard is turned white with the news; you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackarel.— filed under News
The good and bad together. Where have you lurk'd, that you make doubt of it? C. v. 4. What news, Lord Bardolph ? every minute now Should be the father of some stratagem;— filed under News
But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true. Not yours, in good sooth! 'Heart, you swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you, in good sooth; and, As true as I live; and, As God shall mend me; and, As sure as day; And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths, as if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury. Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art, a good mouth-filling oath; and leave in sooth, and such protest of pepper gingerbread, to velvetguards, and Sunday citizens.— filed under Jaths
Having both the key of officer and office. He was a fool; For he would needs be virtuous: That good fellow, If I command him, follows my appointment; I will have none so near else. Learn this, brother, We live not to be grip'd by meaner persons. H. VIII. ii. 2. Fear not your advancement; I will be the man yet that— filed under Office
If there were not two or three and fifty upon poor old Jack, I am no two-legged creature.— filed under Overmatched
Sick in the world's regard, wretched, and low, A poor unminded outlaw.— filed under Overmatched
Thou knowest my old ward; -here I lay, and thus I bore my point.— filed under Parrying
A peace is of the nature of a conquest; For then both parties nobly are subdued, And neither party loser.— filed under Peace
I'll be damned for ne'er a king's son in Christendom.— filed under Perdition
Nay, I will; that's flat: He said, he would not ransom Mortimer; Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer; But I will find him when he lies asleep, And in his ear I'll holla, - Mortimer!— filed under Pertinacity
Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him, To keep his anger still in motion.— filed under Pertinacity
Good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable.— filed under Phrases
By the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant: a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation: an excellent plot, very good friends.— filed under Plot
They cry,-Choose we; Laertes shall be king! Now, when the lords, and barons of the realm, Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him, The more and less came in with cap and knee; Met him in boroughs, cities, villages; Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes, Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths, Gave him their heirs, as pages follow'd him, Even at his heels, in golden multitudes. He presently, -as greatness knows itself,- Steps me a little higher than his vow Made to my father, while his blood was poor, Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg; And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees, That lie too heavy on the commonwealth: Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep Over his country's wrongs; and, by this face This seeming brow of justice, did he win The hearts of all that he did angle for.— filed under Popularity
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice, Their over-greedy love hath surfeited :- A habitation giddy and unsure Hath he, that buildeth on the vulgar heart. O thou fond many! with what loud applause Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke, Before he was what thou wouldst have him be! And being now trimm'd in thine own desires, Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him, That thou provok'st thyself to cast him up.— filed under Popularity
The southern wind Doth play the trumpet to his purposes; And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves, Foretells a tempest and a blustering day. H.IV. PT. 1. v. 1 How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale At his distemperature.— filed under Portents
Harsh rage, Defect of manners, want of government, Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain; The least of which, haunting a nobleman, Loseth men's hearts.— filed under Pride
Small things make base men proud: this villain, here, Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more Than Burgulus, the strong Illyrian pirate.— filed under Pride
Shall the son of England prove a thief, and take purses!— filed under Prince, Degenerate
The king is kind; and, well we know, the king Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.— filed under Promises
Let the end try the man.— filed under Proof
In every thing, the purpose must weigh with the folly.— filed under Purpose
How now, how now, mad wag? What, in thy quips. and thy quiddities?— filed under Quips
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! O thou hast damnable iteration; and art, indeed, able to— filed under Quoting Scripture
fight for bitten apples. The cankers of a calm world.— filed under Rabble
I'll not march through Coventry with them, that's flat.— filed under Rabble
Give you a reason on compulsion! if reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man a reason on compulsion.— filed under Reason
Hear me more plainly. I have in equal balance justly weigh'd, What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer. And find our griefs heavier than our offences. We see which way the stream of time doth run, And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere By the rough torrent of occasion: And have the summary of all our griefs, When time shall serve, to show in articles: Which, long ere this, we offer'd to the king; And might by no suit gain our audience: When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our griefs, We are denied access unto his person, Even by those men who most have done us wrong. The dangers of the days but newly gone, (Whose memory is written on the earth With yet-appearing blood,) and the examples Of every minute's instance, (present now,) Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms: Not to break peace, or any branch of it; But to establish here a peace indeed, Concurring both in name and quality.— filed under Rebellion
If that rebellion Came like itself, in base and abject routs, Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage, And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; You, reverend father, and these noble lords, Had not been here, to dress the ugly form Of base and bloody insurrection..— filed under Rebellion
All the regions Do smilingly revolt; and, who resist, Are only mock'd for valiant ignorance, And perish constant fools. My lord, your son had only but the corps, But shadows, and the shows of men, to fight: For that same word, rebellion, did divide The action of their bodies from their souls; And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd As men drink potions; that their weapons only Seem'd on our side, but for their spirits and souls, This word, rebellion, it had froze them up, As fish are in a pond.— filed under Rebellion
Wherefore do I this? so the question stands. Briefly to this end: - We are all diseas'd; And with our surfeiting, and wanton hours, Have brought ourselves into a burning fever, And we must bleed for it: of which disease, Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.— filed under Rebellion
In very truth, Sir, I had as lief be hanged, Sir, as go; and yet, for mine own part, Sir, I do not care; but rather, because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, I have a desire to stay with my friends; else, Sir, I did not care, for mine own part, so much.— filed under Recruit
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, Shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes, Than that which hath no foil to set it off.— filed under Reform
I must give over this life, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain.— filed under Reform
There roar'd the sea, and trumpet-clangour sounds.— filed under Regal Ceremonies
So came I a widow; And never shall have length of life enough, To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes, That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven, For recordation to my noble husband. H. IV. PT. II. ii.— filed under Remembrance
O, I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour.— filed under Repayment
And begin to patch up thine old body for heaven.— filed under Repentance
The prince will, in the perfectness of time, Cast off his followers; and their memory Shall as a pattern or a measure live, By which his grace must mete the lives of others: Turning past evils to advantages.— filed under Repentance
For heaven doth know, so shall the world perceive, That I have turn'd away my former self;— filed under Repentance
So will I those that kept me company. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse: the inside of a church! Company, villainous company, has been the spoil of me.— filed under Repentance
A most unnoble swerving. I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of— filed under Reputation
The cause is in my will. We must have bloody noses, and crack'd crowns, And pass them current too. Gods me, my horse!— filed under Resolution
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. For mine own part, I could be well content To entertain the lag-end of my life With quiet hours.— filed under Retirement
This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried, Stand, to a true man.— filed under Robber
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo, The numbers of the fear'd.— filed under Rulers
Open your ears: for which of you will stop The vent of hearing, when loud Rumour speaks ? I, from the orient, to the drooping west, Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold The acts commenced on this ball of earth: Jpon my tongues continual slanders ride; The which in every language I pronounce, Stuffing the ears of men with false reports. I speak of peace, while covert enmity, Under the smile of safety, wounds the world: And who but Rumour, who but only I, Make fearful musters, and prepar'd defence; Whilst the big year, swoln with some other grief, Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures; And of so easy and so plain a stop, That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, The still discordant wavering multitude,— filed under Rulers
A good sherris-sack has a two-fold operation in it. 11 ascends me into the brain: dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours which environ it: makes it aj prehensive, quick, and forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which delivered o'er to the voice, "he tongue) which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold, and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme. It illuminateth the face; which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm: and then the vital commoners, and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart; who, great, and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour comes of sherris: So that skill in the weapon is nothing, without sack; for that sets it a-work: and learning, a mere hoard of gold, kept by a devil; till sack commences it, and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it, that prince Harry is valiant: for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavour of drinking good, and good store of fertile sherris; that he is become very hot, and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them, should be, to forswear thin potations, and addict themselves to sack.— filed under Sack
I know you wise; but yet no further wise, Than Harry Percy's wife; constant you are; But yet a woman: and for secrecy, No lady closer; for I well believe, Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know; And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.— filed under Secrecy
I look'd he should have sent me two-and-twenty yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he sends me, -security.— filed under Security
A rascally, yea-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in— filed under Security
About their functions friendly. These things, indeed, you have articulated, Proclaim'd at market crosses, read in churches; To face the garment of rebellion With some fine colour, that may please the eye Of fickle changelings, and poor discontents, Which gape, and rub the elbow, at the news Of hurly-burly innovation: And never yet did insurrection want Such water-colours to impaint his cause; Nor moody beggars, starving for a time, Of pell-mell havoc and confusion.— filed under Sedition:
Zounds! how has he the leisure to be sick In such a justling time— filed under Sick
A good swift similie, but something currish. T.S.v.2 Thou hast the most unsavoury similies. H. IV. PT. I. i.— filed under Similies
Smiling rickthanks and base newsmongers.— filed under Slander
How many thousands of my poorest subjects Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh mine eye-lids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies, to thy slumber; Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Under the canopies of costly state, And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile, In loathsome beds; and leav'st the kingly couck A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell? Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast, Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains, In cradle of the rude imperious surge; And in the visitation of the winds, Who take the ruffian billows by the top, Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them With deaf'ning clamours in the slippery clouds, That, with the hurly, death itself awakes? Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose To the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude: And, in the calmest, and most stillest night, With all appliances and means to boot, Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.— filed under Sleep
All furnish'd, all in arms, All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind; Bated like eagles having lately bath'd; Glittering in golden coats, like images; As full of spirit as the month of May, And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer; Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.— filed under Soldier
Tut, tut; good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they'll find a pit as well as better.— filed under Soldier
And she died singing it. She bids you Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, And rest your gentle head upon her lap, And she will sing the song that pleaseth you, And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep, Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness, Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep, As is the difference betwixt day and night, The hour before the heavenly-harnessed team Begins his golden progress in the east. H. IV. PT. I. iii.— filed under Song
Though that be sick it dies not.— filed under Soul
He was the very genius of famine. You might have truss'd him, and all his apparet, into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court; and now has he land and bees.— filed under Spare Figure
Help me this once. Glendower.-I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur.-Why, so can I; or so can any man: But will they come when you do call for them?— filed under Spirits
Out, you mad-headed ape! A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen— filed under Spleen
As gorgeous as the sun at midsummer. H. IV. PT. I. iv.— filed under Splendor
It stuck upon him, as the sun— filed under Splendor
If the deed were ill, Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have a son set your decrees at nought; To pluck down justice from your awful bench; To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword That guards the peace and safety of your person : Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image, And mock your workings in a second body. Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours; Be now the father, and propose a son: Hear your own dignity so much profan'd; See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted, Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd; And then imagine me taking your part, And, in your power, soft silencing your son.— filed under Submission
As Vulcan's stithy. Shall be all stuck full of eyes.— filed under Suspicion
the plain highway of talk. An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. R. III. iv. 4. Mark how a plain tale shall put you down.— filed under Tale
Five years! by'r lady, a long lease for the clinking of pewter.— filed under Tapster
That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry is-up stairs, and down stairs; and his eloquence, the parcel of a reckoning.— filed under Tapster
It would be argument for a week, laughter for a month,— filed under Theme
A plague upon't, when thieves cannot be true to one another!— filed under Thief, Thievery
Well, thus we play the fools with the time; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.— filed under Time
Time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop.— filed under Time
We are Time's subjects, and Time bids be gone.— filed under Time
O, I could divide myself and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of skimm'd milk with so honourable an action!— filed under Timidity
Such a commodity of warm slaves, as had as lief hear the— filed under Timidity
Suspicion shall be all stuck full of eyes: For treason is but trusted like the fox; Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors. Look how we can, or sad, or merrily, Interpretation will misquote our looks; Shakespearion Dictionary. And we shall feed like oxen at a stall, The better cherish'd still the nearer death.— filed under Treason
And I'll be sworn, I have power to shame him hence. O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil.— filed under Ruth
His valour shown upon our crests to-day, Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds, Even in the bosom of our adversaries.— filed under Valour
O, this boy Lends mettle to us all!— filed under Valour
The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.— filed under Valour
O, such a day, So fought, so follow'd, and so fairly won, Come not, till now, to dignify the times, Since Cæsar's fortunes.— filed under Victory
Virtue is of so little regard in these costermonger times, that true valour is turned bear-herd.— filed under Virtue
What man of good temper could endure this tempest of exclamation?— filed under Vituperation
Shallow. Use his men well, Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite. Davy.-No worse than they are back-bitten, Sir; for they have marvellous foul linen.— filed under Vituperation
Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a mar to labour in his vocation.— filed under Vocation
Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch; A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Must glove this hand: And hence, thou sickly quoif; Thou art a guard too wanton for the head, Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.— filed under War
Dying, or ere they sicken. Therefore, my Harry, Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, May waste the memory of the former days.— filed under War
Let them come; They come like sacrifices in their trim, And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoking war, All hot and bleeding, will we offer them: The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit, Up to the ears in blood.— filed under War
Away, you trifler! Love? I love thee not, I care not for thee, Kate; this is no world, To play with mammets, and to tilt with lips: We must have bloody noses, and crack'd crowns, And pass them current too :-Gods me, my horse!— filed under War
How now, lad? is the wind in that door, i' faith? must— filed under War
I reckon this always, that a man is never undone till he be hanged; nor never welcome to a place till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say, welcome. T. G. ii. 5. If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.— filed under Welcome
But I will never be a truant, love, Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd, Sung by a fair queen, in a summer's bower, With ravishing division to her lute.— filed under Welsh
Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh; And 'tis no marvel he's so humorous.— filed under Welsh
a foolish wit. I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is— filed under Wit
in other men. It is no matter, if I do halt; I have the wars for my colour, and my pension shall seem the more reasonable: A good wit will make use of any thing; I will turn diseases to com-— filed under Wit
His wit is as thick as Tewkesbury mustard.— filed under Wit
I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldier like word, and a word of exceeding good command.— filed under Words
A bad world, I say! I would, I were a weaver; I could— filed under World
Like monsters of the deep. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan, And not relent, or not compassion in him? Tit. And. iv. 1. Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong.— filed under Wrongs
When his headstrong riot hath no curb, rage and When rage and hot blood are his counsellors, hot blood are his counsellors, When means and lavish manners meet together; O, with what wings shall his affections fly Towards fronting peril and oppos'd decay.— filed under Youth