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Shakespeare Quotes from Macbeth
130 passages from Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations (1892), each filed under the passion it answers.
What's te business, hideous trumpet calls to parley That such— filed under Alarm
Your highness' part Is to receive our duties: and our duties Are to your arone and state, children and servants; Which do bu, what they should, by doing every thing— filed under Allegiance
That is a step, On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies.— filed under Ambition
I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, And falls on t'other side.— filed under Ambition
By the pricking of my thumbs,— filed under Ant
Great business must be wrought ere noon; Upon the corner of the moon There hangs a vapourous drop profound;— filed under Ant
The earth hath bubbles, as the water hath,— filed under Bubbles
For a charm of powerful trouble— filed under Charm
Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour, As thou art in desire? Would'st thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem; Letting I dare not, wait upon I would, Like the poor cat i' the adage?— filed under Compunction
We will proceed no further in this business: He hath honour'd me of late, and I have bought— filed under Compunction
Golden opinions of all sorts of people. But wherefore could I not pronounce, Amen? I had most need of blessing, and Amen Stuck in my throat.— filed under Compunction
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd; Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow; Raze out the written troubles of the brain; And with some sweet oblivious antidote, Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart?— filed under Conscience, Guilty
When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won.— filed under Consummation
Pr'ythee peace; I dare do all that may become a man;— filed under Difficulties Of
On their departure most of all show evil. Things at the worst will cease; or else climb upward— filed under Crisis
All is but toys: renown, and grace, is deed; The wine of life is drawr., and the mere lees Is less this vault to brag— filed under Death
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with.— filed under Death
Oft have I seen a timely parted ghost, Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, Being all descended to the labouring heart; Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy; Which, with the heart there cools and ne'er returneth To blush and beautify the cheek again. H. VI. PT. II. iii. 2 The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil.— filed under Death
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change. 4. C. v. 2. Duncan is in his grave; After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well; Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison. Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further.— filed under Death
Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv'd a blessed time, for, from this instant, There's nothing serious in mortality.— filed under Death
My way of life Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow. leaf.— filed under Decay
What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian kear, The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tyger, Take any snape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me The baby of a girl.— filed under Defiance
Gentle heaven, Cut off all intermission; front to front, Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself; Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape, Heaven forgive him too!— filed under Defiance
Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray us In deepest consequence.— filed under Delusion
I pull in resolution; and begin To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth.— filed under Despair
If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly.— filed under Despatch
Some say he's mad; others, that lesser hate him, Do call it valiant fury; but for certain, He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of rule.— filed under Desperation
I have given suck; and know How tender 'tis, to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as You have done to this.— filed under Determination
Where we are There's daggers in men's smiles; the near in blood, The nearer bloody.— filed under Dissimulation
To beguile the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.— filed under Dissimulation
What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?— filed under End
'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven.— filed under Fond
Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood.— filed under Evening
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: Now spurs the lated traveller apace, To gain the timely inn.— filed under Evening
I have no judgment in an honest face. Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men— filed under Face
A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,— filed under Fallen Greatness
His flight was madness: When our actions do not, Our fears do, make us traitors.— filed under Fear
Those linen cheeks of thine Are counsellors to fear.— filed under Fear
O, these flaws and starts, (Impostors to true fear) would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire.— filed under Fear
This is the very painting of your fear.— filed under Fear
You make me strange, Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, While mine are blanch'd with fear.— filed under Fear
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd loon! Where got'st thou that goose look?— filed under Fear
I have almost forgot the very taste of fears: The time has been my senses would have cool'd To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair Would, at a dismal treatise, rouse, and stir, As life were in't: I have supp'd full of horrors; Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, Cannot once start me.— filed under Fear
Is coming toward me.— filed under Foreboding
Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And, with thy bloody and invisible hand, 6 Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale.— filed under Fore-Doom
I will drain him dry as hay; Sleep shall, neither night nor day, Hang upon his pent-house lid; He shall live a man forbid.— filed under Fore-Doom
Ere the bat hath flown His cloister'd flight; ere, to black Hecate's summons, The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note.— filed under Fore-Doom
Hang'd himself on the expectation of plenty.— filed under Fore-Staller
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too, - If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send Those that we bury, back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites.— filed under Ghost
Kind gentleman, your pains Are register'd, where every day I turn The leaf to read them.— filed under Gratitude
Would thou had'st less deserv'd; That the proportion both of thanks and payment Might have been mine!— filed under Gratitude
I cannot but remember such things were That were most precious to me.— filed under Grief
Care is no cure, but rather corrosive, For things that are not to be remedied. H. VI. PT. 1. iii. 3 Why do you keep alone, Of sorries fancies your companions making? Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died With them they think on? Things without all remedy— filed under Grief
O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue!— filed under Rief
The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed. Poems. I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still, That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts. T. C. v. ii. Infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets— filed under Guilt
ΠON This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,— filed under Honesty
about you. New honours come upon him Like our strange garments; cleave not to their mould, But with the aid of time.— filed under Honour
Signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deservers.— filed under Honour
Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant, There's nothing serious in mortality: All is but toys: renown, and grace, are dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees— filed under Hope
We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it; She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice Remains in danger of her former tooth.— filed under Insecurity
I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in To saucy doubts and fears.— filed under Insecurity
Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny; it hath been The untimely emptying of the happy throne,— filed under Intemperance
'S EVIL. 'Tis call'd the evil: A most miraculous work in this good king: Which often, since my here-remain in England, I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, Himself best knows: but strangely visited people, All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, The mere despair of surgery, he cures; Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, Put on with holy prayers; and 'tis spoken, To the succeeding royalty he leaves— filed under King's Absence And Return, Typified
The healing benediction. Ay, Sir; there are a crew of wretched souls, That stay his cure; their malady convinces The great assay of art; but, at his touch, Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,— filed under King's Absence And Return, Typified
Here's a knocking, indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Who's there, i' the name of Belzebub ?— filed under Knocking
Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great; Art not without ambition; but without The illness should attend it. What thou would'st highly, That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false, And yet would'st wrongly win; thou'dst have, great Glamis, That which cries, "Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do Than wishest should be undone."— filed under Macbeth
Let this pernicious hour Stand age accursed in the calendar!— filed under Malediction
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, Uproar the universal peace, confound— filed under Malevolence
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,— filed under Malignity
continued. Nor coigne of 'vantage, but this bird hath made His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd the air Is delicate.— filed under Martlet
after. Thou art so far before, That swiftest wing of recompense is slow— filed under Merit
And so may you: for a light heart lives long. Be large in mirth; anon, we'll drink a measure The table round.— filed under Mirth
Thou sure and firm-set earth, near not my steps, which way they walk, for fear The very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it.— filed under Murder
Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, Ere human statute purg'd the general weal; Ay, and since, too, murders have been perform'd Too terrible for the ear; the times have been, That when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end: but now, they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools: This is more strange Than such a murder is.— filed under Murder
It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood; Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augures, and understood relations, have By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood— filed under Murder
Wither'd murder, Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl's his watch, thus, with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost.— filed under Murder
With all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one, red.— filed under Murder
The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.— filed under Murder
That should be howl'd out in the desert air Where hearing should not latch them.— filed under News
Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound,— filed under News
Each minute, some. Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant.— filed under News
What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look,— filed under News
Now o'er the one half world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings: and wither'd murder, Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl's his watch, thus, with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost.— filed under Night
Hark! peace! It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bell-man.— filed under Night
The poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in the nest, against the owl.— filed under Oppression
I am one my liege, Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world Have so incens'd, that I am reckless what— filed under Overmatched
I do to spite the world. So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune, That I would set my life on any chance To mend it, or be rid on't.— filed under Overmatched
Norweyan banners flout the sky,- And fan our people cold.— filed under Panic
To take a tedious leave. At once, good night:- Stand not upon the order of your going,— filed under Parting
There's no art, To find the mind's construction in the face : He was a gentleman on whom I built An infinite trust.— filed under Physiognomy
And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind.— filed under Pity
If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: If the assassination $16 Shak pearian Dictionary. Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, With his surcease, success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all; here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, - We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases, We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague th' inventor: This even handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking off: And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind.-I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, And falls on t'other side.— filed under Regicide
Things without remedy Should be without regard.— filed under Remedies
I cannot but remember such things were That were most precious to me.— filed under Remembrance
Than when she liv'd indeed. I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done;— filed under Remorse
Look on't again I dare not. Nothing in his life Became him, like the leaving it; he died As one that had been studied in his death, To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd, As 'twere a careless trifle.— filed under Remorse
There's gold for you; sell me your good report. Cym. ii— filed under Report
Come, come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here; And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood, Stop up the access and passage to remorse; That no compunctious visitings of Nature Shake my full purpose, nor keep peace between The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on Nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell! That my keen knife see not the wound it makes: Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry hold! hold!— filed under Resolve, Murderous
O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue!-But, gentle heaven, Cut short all intermission; front to front, Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself; Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape, Heaven forgive him too!— filed under Revenge
Masking the business from the common eye.— filed under Secrecy
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock; As broad and general as the casing air.— filed under Security
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. But yet I'll make assurance doubly sure, And take a bond of fate.— filed under Security
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, And guardian of their bones.— filed under Sepulchre
Some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.— filed under Sin
The innocent sleep: Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast.— filed under Sleep
"Tis much he dares; And, to the dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety.— filed under Soldier
Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it. Cure her of that: Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd; Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow Raze out the written troubles of the brain; And with some sweet oblivious antidote, Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart?— filed under Sorrow
Black spirits and white, Red spirits and grey; Mingle, mingle, mingle, You that mingle may.— filed under Spirits
Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, so depart.— filed under Spirits
Infected be the air whereon they ride,— filed under Spirits
Out, damned spot: out, I say.— filed under Stain
All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweaten this little hand.— filed under Stain
Therefore, to horse; And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, But shift away: There's warrant in that theft, Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left. M. ii.— filed under Stealing
I have drugg'd their possets That death and nature do contend about them— filed under Stupefaction
Shapes faults that are not.— filed under Suspicion
The night has been unruly; where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say, Lamentings heard i' th' air:-some say the earth— filed under Tempest
Shakesprarian Dictionary. THI Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble.— filed under Terror
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors, And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour From what we fear, yet know not what we fear; But float upon a wild and violent sea, Each way.— filed under Traitor
Would buy this for a lie.— filed under Ruth
Our country sinks beneath the yoke; It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds— filed under Tyrant
I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin— filed under Tyrant
Upon thy eye-balls murd'rous tyranny Sits in grim majesty to fright the world. H. VI. PT. II. iii. 3. Bleed, bleed poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dares not check thee! wear thou thy wronga, Thy title is affeer'd.— filed under Tyrant
O nation miserable, With an untitled tyrant, bloody scepter'd, When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again? M. iv. 3 Then live to be the show and gaze o' the time; We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, Painted upon a pole; and under writ,— filed under Tyrant
Decrease not, but grow faster with their years. Those he commands, move only in command,— filed under Tyrant
The Douglas, and the Hotspur, both together, Are confident against the world in arms. H.IV. PT. I. v. 1 Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smok'd with bloody execution, Like valour's minion Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave.— filed under Valour
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. By the strength of their illusion Shall draw him on to his confusion.— filed under Vanity
Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot Be call'd our mother, but our grave: where nothing, Shakespearinn Dictionary. WAB But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile; Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rend the air, Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems A modern ecstacy; the dead man's knell, Is there scarce ask'd, for who; and good men's lives Expire before the flowers in their caps,— filed under War
What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: -You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.— filed under Wit, Reflections On The Scull Of A
They spake not a word; But, like dumb statues, or breathless stones, Star'd on each other, and look'd deadly pale. R. III. iii. 7 Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me strange. Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, While mine are blanch'd with fear.— filed under Wonder
I am in this earthly world; where, to do harm, Is often laudable: to do good, sometimes Accounted dangerous folly.— filed under World