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Shakespeare Quotes from King Lear
176 passages from Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations (1892), each filed under the passion it answers.
Obey thy parents; keep thy word justly; swear not; commit not with man's sworn spouse; set not thy sweet heart on proud array.— filed under Advice
Let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it; but the great one that goes up the hill, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again.— filed under Advice
Keep thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul defy fiend.— filed under Advice
Let not the creaking of shoes, nor the rustling of silks, betray thy poor heart to women.— filed under Advice
As you are old and reverend you should be wise.— filed under Age
As gravity's revolt to wantonness. Thou should'st not have been old before thou had'st been— filed under Age
I am old now,— filed under Age
And so shall starve with feeding.— filed under Anger
We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there's— filed under Ant
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile;— filed under Apprehension
Your spirits shine through you. I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;— filed under Aptitude
It shall be done, I will arraign them straight:- Come, sit thou here, most learned justicer.— filed under Arraignment
Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar, And the creature run from the cur: There, There, thou might'st behold the great image of authority:— filed under Authority
Why bastard? wherefore base ? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true, As honest madam's issue?— filed under Bastard
Fine word, legitimate! Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate. I grow: I prosper:- Now, gods, stand up for bastards.— filed under Bastard
There was never yet fair woman but she made mouths a glass. in a glass. made mouths— filed under Beauty
The country gives me proof and precedent Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms, Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary; And with this horrible object, from low farms, Poor pelting villages, sheep cotes, and mills, Sometimes with lunatic bans, sometimes with prayers,— filed under Bedlam Beggars
Bless thy five wits.— filed under Benediction
This is some fellow, Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect A saucy roughness; and constrains the garb Quite from his nature. He can't flatter, he!- An honest man and plain, he must speak truth: An they will take it, so; if not, he's plain. This kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness, Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends Than twenty silly ducking observants,— filed under Bluntness
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak, When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound, When majesty stoops to folly.— filed under Boasting
Too much trust hath damag'd such As have believ'd men in their loves too much. Poetя. Take heed o' the foul fiend!— filed under Caviller
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.— filed under Caviller
Let me still take away the harms I fear, • Not fear still to be taken.— filed under Caviller
How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell, Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.— filed under Caviller
Read thou this challenge; mark but the penning of it.— filed under Challenge
Draw, you rogue; for though it be night, the moon the moon shines.— filed under Challenge
I protest Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence, Despite thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune, Thy valour, and thy heart, -thou art a traitor: False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father; Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince; And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust beneath thy feet, A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou, No, This sword, this arm, and my best spirits are bent, To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak, Thou liest.— filed under Challenge
Full oft 'tis seen, Our mean secures us; and our mere defects— filed under Chance
But I'll not chide thee; Let shame come when it will, I do not call it: I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot, Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove: Mend, when thou can'st; be better at thy leisure : I can be patient.— filed under Dissolving
I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban.— filed under Conference, Learned
Your purpos'd low correction, Is such, as basest and contemned'st wretches, For pilferings and most common trespasses, Are punished with.— filed under Correction
Ha! is it come to this!— filed under Crisis
Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this. Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom ?— filed under Custom
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. O ruin'd piece of nature! this great world— filed under Death
O. our lives' sweetness! That with the pain of death, we'd hourly die, Rather than die at once!— filed under Death
O you mighty gods! This world I do renounce; and in your sights, Shake patiently my great affliction off: If I could bear it longer, and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless wills, My snuff, and loathed part of nature, should Burn itself out.— filed under Death
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,— filed under Decrepitude
As full of grief as age; wretched in both. I am old now, And these same crosses spoil me.— filed under Decrepitude
Pray do not mock me: I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward; and to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind.— filed under Decrepitude
Thou art not vanquish'd. But cozen'd and beguil'd.— filed under Defeated
A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch; Past speaking of in a king.— filed under Derangement, Mental
Briefness, and fortune, work.— filed under Despatch
We must do something, and i' the heat.— filed under Despatch
How stiff is my vile sense, That I stand up and have ingenious feeling Of my huge sorrows ! better I were distract, So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs ; And woes, by wrong imaginations, lose The knowledge of themselves.— filed under Despondency
Who gives any thing to poor Tom?— filed under Destitution
When nobles are their tailors' tutors.— filed under Deterioration
Yours in the ranks of death.— filed under Devotion
A tardiness in nature, Which often leaves the history unspoke, That it intends to do.— filed under Diffidence
Contending with the fretful elements; Bids the winds blow the earth into the sea, Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main, That things might change or cease: tears his white hair, Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, Catch in their fury and make nothing of: Strives in his little world of man to outscorn The to-an-fro-conflicting wind and rain.— filed under Distraction
How, in one house, Should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? 'Tis hard, almost impossible.— filed under Disunion
Away! By Jupiter, This shall not be revok'd.— filed under Doom
How fearful And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes below! The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air, Show scarce so gross as beetles: Half way down Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, Appear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark, Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy, Almost too small for sight: The murm'ring surge, That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, Cannot be heard so high: I'll look no more; Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight Topple down headlong.— filed under Dover Cliffs
Whose nature is so far from doing harms, That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty My practices ride easy.— filed under Dupe
You have seen Sunshine and rain at once. Those happy smiles That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence— filed under Emotion
'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind.— filed under Fond
A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die. Allow not nature more than nature needs.— filed under Excess
Vex not his ghost; O let him pass, he hates him, That would upon the rack of this tough world— filed under Expiring
Fathers, that wear rags, Do make their children blind; But fathers that bear bags, Shall see their children kind.— filed under Father
For taking one's part that's out of favour: Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thoul't catch cold shortly.— filed under Favour
surplus, to tire in repetition. Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides; Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.— filed under Favour
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child.— filed under Filial Ingratitude
There she shook The holy water from her heavenly eyes, And clamour-moisten'd: then away she started, To deal with grief alone.— filed under Grief
His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life Began to crack.— filed under Rief
But his flaw'd heart, (Alack, too weak the conflict to support!) 'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, Burst smilingly.— filed under Heart
The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.— filed under Hypocrisy
Wine lov'd I deeply; dice dearly; and in woman, out paramour'd the Turk. False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey.— filed under Infamy
Infirmity doth still neglect all office, Whereto our health is bound; we are not ourselves, When nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind To suffer with the body.— filed under Infirmity
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand, For lifting food to't?— filed under Ingratitude
Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend; More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child, Than the sea monster.— filed under Ingratitude
Beloved Regan, Thy sister's naught: O Regan, she hath tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture here; I can scarce speak to thee.— filed under Ingratitude
We are not ourselves, when nature, being oppress'd,— filed under Insanity
We are not the first, Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst— filed under Intentions, Good, Defeated
This shows you are above, You justicers, that these poor nether crimes So speedily can venge!— filed under Judgment, Justice
All friends shall taste The wages of their virtue, and all foes The cup of their deservings.— filed under Judgment, Justice
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to scourge us.— filed under Judgment, Justice
What? I will be jovial; come, come; I am a king, My masters, know you that?— filed under Kings
A knave; a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; a one-trunk-inheriting slave: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou denyest the least syllable of thy additions.— filed under Knaves
That such a slave as this should wear a sword, Who wears no honesty. Such smiling rogues as these Like rats, oft bite the holy cords atwain, Which are too intrinse t' unloose.— filed under Knaves
The usurer hangs the cozener.— filed under Law
Detested kite! thou liest.— filed under Letter
Thy life's a miracle.— filed under Life
The jaws of darkness do devour it up. To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder, In the most terrible and nimble stroke— filed under Lightning
Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about— filed under Loneliness
Thou art most rich, being poor; Most choice, forsaken; and most lov'd, despis'd. Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.— filed under Love
Love is not love when it is mingled with regards that stand aloof from the entire point.— filed under Love
A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch; Past speaking of in a king.— filed under Madness
Alack, 'tis he; why, he was met even now As mad as the vex'd sea; singing aloud; Crown'd with rank fumitor, and furrow weeds, Shakespeariau Dictionary. With hardocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow In our sustaining corn.— filed under Madness
O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!— filed under Madness
O, matter and impertinency mix'd! Reason in madness!— filed under Madness
never shrouded any but lazars. Amen. You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames Into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun, To fall and blast her pride!— filed under Malediction
Hear, Nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! * * * Suspend thy purpose, if Thou didst intend to make this creature fruitful! * * * If she must teem, Create her child of spleen; that it may live And be a thwart disnatur'd torment to her! Let it stamp wrinkles on her brow of youth! With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; Turn all her mother's pains and benefits To laughter and contempt; that she may feel How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child!— filed under Malediction
All the stor'd vengeance of heaven fall On her ingrateful top! Strike her young bones, You taking airs with lameness!— filed under Malediction
Now, all the plagues that in the pendulous air Hang fated o'er men's faults, light on thy daughters.— filed under Malediction
A plague upon your epileptic visage.— filed under Malediction
For being a little bad. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men; As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clep'd, All by the name of dogs: the valued file Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, The house-keeper, the hunter, every one According to the gift which bounteous Nature Hath in him clos'd; whereby he doth receive Particular addition, from the bill That writes them all alike: and so of men. We came crying hither.— filed under Man
Know thou this:-that men Are as the time is.— filed under Man
..s man no more than this?— filed under Man
And they to him are angels.— filed under Man
Some faults to make us men. When we are born, we cry, that we are come To this great stage of fools.— filed under Man
My cue is villanous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom 0' like Tom o' Bedlam.— filed under Melancholy
When the mind's free the body's delicate.— filed under Mind
A most poor man, made tame by fortune's blows; Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, Am pregnant to good pity.— filed under Misfortune
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy Canst tell now an oyster makes his shell?— filed under Mysteries
NECESSITY. NEED. Necessity's sharp pinch.— filed under Nature
Where is this straw, my fellow? The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious.— filed under Nature
O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's.— filed under Nature
But, for true need, - You heavens, give me that patience: patience I need.— filed under Nature
Ere I was risen from the place that show'd My duty kneeling, came there a reeking post, Stew'd in his haste, half breathless, panting forth From Goneril, his mistress, salutations; Deliver'd letters, spite of intermission, Which presently they read.— filed under News
All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blind men; and there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him that's stinking.— filed under Vight
All's not offence that indiscretion finds, And dotage terms so.— filed under Offence
Thou art not vanquish'd, But cozen'd and beguil'd.— filed under Overmatched
That, Sir, which serves and seeks for gain, And follows but for form, Will pack, when it begins to rain,— filed under Parasites
When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found them, there I smelt them out. Ge to, they are not men o' their words: they told me I was every thing;-'tis a lie ; I'm not ague-proof. K.L. iv.— filed under Parasites
Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm Invades us to the skin: so 'tis to thee; But where the greater malady is fix'd, The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'dst shun a beart But if thy flight lay towards the raging sen, Thou'dst meet a bear i' the mouth. When the mind's free, The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else, Save what beats there.— filed under Passion
4 Henceforth, I'll bear Affliction, till it do cry out itself, Enough, enough, and die.— filed under Patience
Keep peace, upon your lives; He dies, that strikes again. What is the matter?— filed under Peace
O, cry you mercy, Noble philosopher, your company.— filed under Phantasy
First, let me talk with this philosopher:- What is the cause of thunder?— filed under Phantasy
This is the excellent foppery of the world; that, when we are sick in fortune, (often the surfeit of our own behaviour) we make guilty of our disasters, the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools, by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on: An admirable evasion of man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!— filed under Planetary Influence
Get thee glass eyes; And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost not.— filed under Politicians
Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel; That thou mayest shake the superflux to them,— filed under Pomp
Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear. K. L. iv. 4. A most poor man, made tame by fortune's blows; Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows. Am pregnant to good pity.— filed under Poverty
No port is free; no place, That guard, and most unusual vigilance, Does not attend my taking.— filed under Proscription
There is division, Although as yet the face of it be cover'd With mutual cunning.— filed under Quarrel
Like the wreath of radiant fire— filed under Radiance
Eyeless rage.— filed under Rage
Darkness and devils! Saddle my horses; call my train together.— filed under Rage
Why, what a monstrous fellow art thou, thus to rail on one, that is neither known of thee, nor knows thee.— filed under Railing
This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, It is a chance that does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt.— filed under Recovery
The shame itself doth speak For instant remedy.— filed under Reform
Briefly thyself remember.— filed under Remembrance
Thy truth then be thy dower: For, by the sacred radiance of the sun; The mysteries of Hecate, and the night; By all the operations of the orbs, From whom we do exist, and cease to be: Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity, and property of blood. And as a stranger to my heart and me— filed under Renumeration
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose To wage against the enmity o' the air; To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Necessity's sharp pinch!— filed under Repugnance
O, you mighty gods! This world I do renounce; and in your sights, Shake patiently my great affliction off: If I could bear it longer, and not fall To quarrel with your great opposeless wills, My snuff, and loathed parts of nature, should— filed under Resignation
To shake all cares and business from our age; Conferring them on younger strengths, while we, Unburden'd, crawl toward death.— filed under Retirement
A sovereign shame so elbows him.— filed under Shame
With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats; Whilst thou, a moral fool, sit'st still, and ery'st,— filed under Slavishness
To say ay, and no, to every thing I said! Ay and no too, was no good divinity.— filed under Slavishness
Patience and sorrow strove Who should express her goodliest. You have seen Sunshine and rain at once: her smiles and tears Were like a better day: Those happy smiles, That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence, As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. In brief, sorrow Would be a rarity most belov'd, if all Could so become it.— filed under Smiles
To be tender-minded Does not become a sword:-Thy great employment Will not bear question.— filed under Soldier
e'er I heard virgin exclaim in. Down, thou climbing sorrow, thy element's below.— filed under Sorrow
And now and then an ample tear trill'd down Her delicate cheek; it seem'd, she was a queen Over her passion; who, most rebel-like, Sought to be king o'er her.— filed under Sorrow
The stars above us govern our condition.— filed under Stars
Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense.— filed under Suffering, Unjust
The murmuring surge, That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes,— filed under Surges
Was this a face To be expos'd against the warring winds? To stand against the deep, dread-bolted thunder?— filed under Sympathy
And wast thou fain, poor father, To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn, In short and musty straw? Alack! Alack! "Tis wonder, that thy life, and wits, at once Had not concluded all.— filed under Sympathy
All bless'd secrets, All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth Spring with my tears! be aidant, and remediate, In the good man's distress.— filed under Sympathy
The mind much sufferance doth o'er-skip,— filed under Sympathy
Makes thee the happier: Heavens, deal so still! •Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man, That slaves your ordinance, that will not see Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly; So distribution should undo excess, And each man have enough.— filed under Sympathy
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine. Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel; That thou may'st shake the superflux to them, And show the heavens more just.— filed under Sympathy
Was feverous, and did shake. The wrathful skies Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, And make them keep their caves: since I was man, Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never Remember to have heard.— filed under Tempest
Let the great gods That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads, Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou wretch, That hast within thee undivulged crimes, Unwhipp'd of justice: Hide thee, thou bloody hand That perjur'd, and thou simular man of virtue, That art incestuous: Caitiff, to pieces shake, That under covert and convenient seeming Hast practis'd on man's life! Close pent-up guilts, Rive your concealing continents, and cry These dreadful summoners grace. I am a man, More sinn'd against than sinning.— filed under Tempest
O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.— filed under Thorny Point
Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.— filed under Time
Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides.— filed under Time
I protest, Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence, Despite thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune, Thy valour, and thy heart, -thou art a traitor: False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father; Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince; And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust beneath thy feet, A most toad-spotted traitor.— filed under Traitor
TROUBLES.. O, how full of briers is this working-day world! A. P. i. 3 As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.— filed under Trinkets
Truth's a dog that must to kennel: he must be whipped and stink. out, when Lady the brach, may stand by the fire and stink.— filed under Ruth
The lowest, and most dejected thing of fortune, Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear: The lamentable change is from the best; The worst returns to laughter. Welcome then, Thou unsubstantial air, that I embrace! The wretch, that thou hast blown unto the worst, Owes nothing to thy blasts.— filed under Vicissitude
World, world, O world! But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,— filed under Vicissitude
Thou, whom the heaven's plagues,— filed under Vituperation
Then you love us, we you, and we'll clasp hands: When peers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands. P. P. ii. 4. He, that parts us, shall bring a brand from heaven,— filed under Vituperation
Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts f— filed under Vituperation
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind Blows in your face.— filed under Vituperation
The time will not allow the compliment, Which very manners urges.— filed under Vows
Let confusion of one part, confirm The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death. K At this time, We sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend; And the best quarrels, in the heat, are curs'd By those that feel their sharpness.— filed under War
This milky gentleness, and course of yours, Though I condemn it not, yet, under pardon, You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom,— filed under Weakness
No, I'll not weep :- I have full cause of weeping; but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,— filed under Weeping
O, Sir, to wilful men, The injuries that they themselves procure Must be their schoolmasters.— filed under Wilfulness
Thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides, and left nothing in middle. the— filed under Wit
And mine a sad one. Fie, fie, fie! Pah, pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination: there's money there's money— filed under World
Shall so wear out to nought. Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: When thou dost ask my blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness: So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear pocr rogues Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,- Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who's out ;- And take upon's the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies: And we'll wear out, In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, That ebb and flow by the moon.— filed under World
O gods! who is't can say, I'm at the worst I am worse than e'er I was.— filed under Worst
The worst is not, So long as we can say, - This is the worst.— filed under Worst
If that the heavens do not their visible spirits Send quickly down to tame these vile offences, 'Twill come, Humanity must perforce prey on itself,— filed under Wrongs