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Shakespeare Quotes from Measure for Measure
Fasten your ear to my advisings.— filed under Advice
I have laboured for the poor gentleman, to the extremest of my modesty . shore of my modesty.— filed under Apologist
Adoptedly; as school-maids change their names By vain, though apt affection.— filed under Appellations Of Juvenile Endearment
If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors: and yet, to say the truth, 1 had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality of— filed under Arrest
O place! O form! How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wisest souls To thy false seeming. Blood, thou still art blood: Let's write good angel on the devil's horn, Tis not the devil's crest.— filed under Authority
A dog's obeyed in office. Authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,— filed under Authority
Authority bears a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch— filed under Authority
But it confounds the breather. Who will believe thee, Isabel! My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life, My vouch against you, and my place i' the state, Will so your accusation overweigh, That you shall stifle in your own report, And smell of calumny.— filed under Authority
led by the nose with gold. Thus can the demi-god, Authority, Make us pay down for our offence by weight.— filed under Authority
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet; For every pelting petty officer Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven! Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt. Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak, Than the soft myrtle. O, but man! proud man! Dress'd in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assurd, His glassy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As make the angels weep.— filed under Authority
Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image In stamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made, As to put mettle in restrained means, To make a false one— filed under Bastard
Back-wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes.— filed under Calumny
Why, here's a change indeed in the commonwealth !— filed under Change
I'll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience, And try your penitence, if it be sound,— filed under Conscience
Or hollowly put on. Go to your bosom; Knock there; and ask your heart what it doth know.— filed under Conscience
For we bid this be done, When evil deeds have their permissive pass, And not their punishment.— filed under Crimes
Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound And lie full low, grav'd in the hollow ground. R. II. iii. 2. Art thou gone too? all comfort go with thee! For none abides with me: my joy is-death; Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, Because I wish'd this world's eternity. H./۳۱۲۹ O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake Lest thou a feverous life should'st entertai And six or seven winters more respect Than a perpetual honour.— filed under Death
Dar'st thou die ? The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great, As when a giant dies.— filed under Death
O, death's a great disguiser.— filed under Death
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot: This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice: To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendant world; or to be worse than worst TS Of those, that lawless and incertain thoughts Imagine howling!-'tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life, That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death.— filed under Death
Thou art too noble to conserve a life In base appliances.— filed under Death
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg. 'Twas never merry world, since, of two usuries, the mer riest was put down, and the worser allowed, by order of law, a furred gown to keep him warm; and furred with fox and lambskins too, to signify that craft, being richer than— filed under Degeneracy
And is this all? Then, oh, you blessed ministers above, Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time, Unfold the evil which is here wrapp'd up In countenance!— filed under Denial Of Justice
In our remove, be thou at full ourself; Mortality and mercy in Vienna Live in thy tongue and heart.— filed under Deputy
bounty. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it, To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, When it deserves, with characters of brass, A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time, And razure of oblivion.— filed under Desert
Thieves for their robbery have authority— filed under Example
As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope by the immoderate use Turns to restraint: our natures do pursue (Like rats, that ravin down their proper bane)— filed under Excess
It deserves with characters of brass, A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time And razure of oblivion.— filed under Fame
Well, heaven forgive him, and forgive us all! Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall: Some run from brakes of vice and answer none; And some condemned for one fault alone.— filed under Fate
That all men follow. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it! Why every fault's condemn'd ere it be done: Mine were the very cipher of a function, To find the faults whose fine stands in record,— filed under Favour
Novelty is only in request; and it is dangerous to be aged in any kind of course, as it is virtuous to be constant in any undertaking. There is scarce truth enough alive to make societies secure; but security enough, to make fellowships accursed: much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world.— filed under Fickleness
Every true man's apparel fits your thief: If it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough :— filed under Fit For A Thief
Nay, women are frail too: Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. M. M. ii. 4. Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Who, falling in the flames of her own youth, Hath blistered her report.— filed under Frailty
Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them: But, in the less, foul profanation. That, in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.— filed under Greatness
The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope.— filed under Hope
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond. Do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are fallible— filed under Hope
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. This outward-sainted deputy,- Whose settled visage and deliberate word Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth enmew, As falcon doth the fowl, -is yet a devil.— filed under Hypocrisy
Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same kind. This would make mercy swear and play the tyrant.— filed under Incorrigible
There is a kind of character in thy life, That, to the observer, doth thy history Fully unfold: Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper, as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.— filed under Instrument
His act did not o'ertake his bad intent; And must be buried but as an intent, That perish'd by the way: thoughts are no subjects; Intents but merely thoughts.— filed under Intents And Acts
Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.— filed under Joy
Under your good correction, I have seen, When, after execution, judgment hath Repented o'er his doom.— filed under Judgment, Justice
We have strict statutes and most biting laws.— filed under Law
We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it— filed under Law
Now, as fond fathers, Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch, Only to stick it in their children's sight, For terror, not to use; in time the rod Becomes more mock'd than fear'd: so our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead; And liberty plucks justice by the nose.— filed under Law
What's open made to justice, That justice seizes. What know the laws, That thieves do pass on thieves? "Tis very pregnant, The jewel that we find we stoop and take it, Because we see it; but what we do not see, We tread upon, and never think of it.— filed under Law
As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope, by the immoderate use, Turns to restraint.— filed under Licentiousness
Reason thus with life:- If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing,— filed under Life
Think, ye see The very persons of our noble story, As they were living; think, you see them great, And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat, Of thousand friends, then, in a moment, see How soon this mightiness meets misery! H. VIII. prologue It is silliness to live, when to live is a torment: and then we have a prescription to die, when death is our physician. 0.1.3. That life is better life, past fearing death, Than that which lives to fear.— filed under Life
With willing sport, to the wild ocean. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out. To have what we'd have, we speak not what we mean: I something do excuse the thing I hate, For his advantage that I dearly love.— filed under Love
Ever till now, When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how.— filed under Love
What? do I love her, That I desire to hear her speak again, And feast upon her eyes?— filed under Love
If sad and merry madness equal be. O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'st There is another comfort than this world, That thou neglect me not, with that opinion That I am touch'd with madness.— filed under Madness
By mine honesty, If she be mad, (as I believe no other,) Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense, Such a dependency of thing on thing, As e'er I heard in madness.— filed under Methodical
f They say, best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better,— filed under Man
A breath thou art, (Servile to all the skiey influences), That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, Hourly afflict; merely, thou art death's fool; For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn'st toward him still: Thou art not noble: For all the accommodations that thou bear'st, Are nurs'd by baseness: Thou art by no means valiant; For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'st Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself; For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains That issue out of dust: Happy thou art not; For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get : And what thou hast, forget'st: Thou art not certain; For thy complexion shifts to strange effects, After the moon: If thou art rich, thou art poor; For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey, Till death unloads thee: Friend hast thou none; For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, The mere effusion of thy proper loins, Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner: Thou hast nor youth, nor ag But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and does beg the alms Of palsied eld; and when thou art old, and rich, Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this, That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,— filed under Man
O, dishonest wretch! Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice!— filed under Mercenary
O fie, fie, fie! Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade.— filed under Mercenary
Alas! alas! Why, all the souls that are, were forfeit once; And He that might th' advantage best have took, Found out the remedy: How would you be, If He, who is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are? O, think on that; And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made.— filed under Mercy
Well, believe this; No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace, As mercy does.— filed under Mercy
Lawful mercy is Nothing akin to foul redemption.— filed under Mercy
Mercy is not itself that oft looks so; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.— filed under Mercy
Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? are they not malefactors ?— filed under Misnomer
Can it be, That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary, And pitch our evils there?— filed under Modesty
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness; Or whether that the body public be A horse whereon the governor doth ride, Who, newly in the seat, that it may know He can command, let's it straight feel the spur: Whether the tyranny be in his place, Or in his eminence that fills it up, I stagger in:-But this new governer Awakes me all the enrolled penalties, Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall So long, that nineteen zodiacs have gone round, And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act Freshly on me.— filed under News
Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold; There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st, But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young ey'd cherubim.— filed under Night
I hold you as a thing ensky'd and sainted; By your renouncement, an immortal spirit; And to be talk'd with in sincerity, As with a saint.— filed under Nun
The unwedgeable and gnarled oak.— filed under Oak
So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons, Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive: and even so, The general, subject to a well-wish'd king, Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love Must needs appear offence.— filed under Obsequiousness
Yes, I do think that you might pardon him, And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.— filed under Pardon
Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scraped one out of the table:- Thou shalt not steal.— filed under Pirates' Piety
If thou tell'st this heavy story right, Upon my soul the hearers will shed tears; Yea, even my foes will shed fast falling tears, And say,-Alas, it was a piteous deed! H. VI. PT. III. i. 4, I show it most of all when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall; And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong Lives not to act another.— filed under Pity
O place and greatness, millions of false eyes Are struck upon thee! volumes of report Run with these false and most contrarious quests Upon thy doings! thousand 'scapes of wit Make thee the father of their idle dreams, And rack thee in their fancies!— filed under Place And Greatness
I love the people, But do not like to stage me to their eyes; Though it do well, I do not relish well Their loud applause, and aves vehement; Nor do I think the man of safe discretion, That does affect it.— filed under Popularity
Remorse from power. Mortality and mercy in Vienna Live in thy tongue and heart.— filed under Power
Not with fond shekels of the tested gold; Or stones, whose rates are either rich, or poor, As fancy values them: but with true prayers, That shall be up at heaven and enter there, Ere sun-rise.— filed under Prayers
By losing of our prayers. When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words; Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name; And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil— filed under Prayers
Lord Angelo is precise; Stand at a guard with envy; scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone: Hence shall we see If power change purpose, what our seemers be. M. M. i. 4. A man whose blood Is very snow-broth; one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense; But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge With profits of the mind, study and fast.— filed under Precise Man
Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine.— filed under Presentation
I hold you as a thing enskied, and sainted; * * * an immortal spirit; And to be talk'd with in sincerity As with a saint.— filed under Regard
To mock the expectation of the world; To frustrate prophecies; and to raze out Rotten opinion, which hath writ me down After my seeming. The tide of blood in me Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now; Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea; Where it shall mingle with the state of floods, And flow henceforth in formal majesty. H. IV. PT. II. v. 2 Hold up your hands; say nothing, I'll speak all. They say, best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, became much more the better For being a little bad; so may my husband.— filed under Repentance
He, who the sword of heaven will bear, Should be as holy as severe; Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go; More nor less to others paying, Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him, whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking.— filed under Rulers
For so I have strew'd it in the common ear, And so it is receiv'd.— filed under Rulers
O cunning enemy, that to catch a saint, With saints doth bait thy hook!— filed under Seduction
Few love to hear the sins they love to act. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, The damned'st body to invest and cover— filed under Sin
No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape; back-wounding calumny— filed under Slander
And he, a marble to her tears, is washed by them, and relents not.— filed under Tears
This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there: I'll take my leave, And leave you to the hearing of the cause; Hoping you'll find good cause to whip them all. M. M. ii.— filed under Tediousness
'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall.— filed under Temptation
Most dangerous Is that temptation, that doth goad us on To sin in loving virtue.— filed under Temptation
Let but your honour know, (Whom I believe to be most straight in virtue) That, in the workings of your own affections, Had time coher'd with place, or place with wishing, Or that the resolute acting of your blood Could have attain'd th' effect of your own purpose, Whether you had not sometime in your life Err'd in this point, which now you censure him, And pull'd the law upon you.— filed under Temptation
I am that way going to temptation, Where prayers cross.— filed under Temptation
Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no farther than this world, And squar'st thy life according.— filed under Time
Truth is truth To the end of reckoning.— filed under Truth
All sects, all ages, smack of this vice.— filed under Vice, Prevalent
Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is well allied.— filed under Vice, Prevalent
Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.— filed under Virtue
Never could the strumpet, With all her double vigour, art, and nature, Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid Subdues me quite: Ever, till now, When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how.— filed under Virtue
Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound, as— filed under Vituperation
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do; Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues. Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd, But to fine issues: nor nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence, But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Both thanks and use.— filed under Well Doing, The Duty Or
The heart of woman is! When maidens sue Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel, All their petitions are as freely theirs— filed under Woman