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Shakespeare Quotes from Much Ado About Nothing
When age is in the wit is out.— filed under Age
The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, bait.— filed under Angling
Definitively thus I answer you.— filed under Answer
Now, what a thing it is to be an ass! O that he were here to write me down an ass! but, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written— filed under Ass
Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I Shakespentian Dictionary. will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a batchelor.— filed under Batchelor
Shall I never see a batchelor of three score again?— filed under Batchelor
'S RECANTATION. When I said I would die a batchelor, I did not think I— filed under Batchelor
He that hath a beard is more than a youth: and he that none , is less than a man. hath none, is less than a man.— filed under Beard
I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple; 1 Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys, That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave, and slander, Go anticly, and show an outward hideousness, And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, How they might hurt their enemies if they durst; And this is all.— filed under Braggarts
God bless me from a challenge!— filed under Challenge
They are black vesper's pageants. 'LOWN.— filed under Clouds
Slander'd to death by villains; That dare as well answer a man, indeed, As I dare take a serpent by the tongue;— filed under Toward
Already to their wormy beds are gone. The wolves have prey'd; and look, the gentle day Before the wheels of Phœbus, round about— filed under Dawn
Marry, Thou, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou:- Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword, I fear thee not.— filed under Defiance
As heart can think, or courage execute. Win me and wear me,--let him answer me,- Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me: Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence: Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.— filed under Defiance
Happy are they that hear their detractions, and put— filed under Detraction
Shifted out of thy tale, into telling me of the fashion.— filed under Digression
There's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself.— filed under Egotism
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.— filed under Emotions, Conflicting
Le very eye negociate for itself, and trust no agent.— filed under Eye
Well, if ever thou dost fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument.— filed under Faith
FAME,-continued. mtinued. If a man do not erect, in this age, his own tomb ere he and dies, he shall live no longer in monument, than the bell rings, and the widow weeps. * * * An hour in clamour,— filed under Fame
See'st thou not, I say, what a deformed thief this fashion is? how giddily he turns about all the hot bloods between— filed under Fa Siiion
I see that the fashion wears out more apparel than the— filed under Fa Siiion
Where honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun, Forbid the sun to enter; -like favourites, Made proud by princes, that advance their pride— filed under Favour
Friendship is constant in all other things, Save in the office and affairs of love.— filed under Friend
Men Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it, Their counsel turns to passion, which before Would give preceptial medicine to rage, Fetter strong madness with a silken thread, Charm ache with air, and agony with words. No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under a load of sorrow; But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency, To be so moral, when he shall endure The like himself: therefore give me no counsel;— filed under Grief
I pray thee, cease thy counsel, Which falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve: give not me counsel, Nor let no comforter delight mine ear, But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.— filed under Grief
Every one can master a grief, but he that has it.— filed under Rief
O Lord! he will hang upon him like a disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs pre-— filed under Humble
I'll tell thee what, prince; a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour.— filed under Humour
Knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence.— filed under Hypocrisy
O, what authority and show of truth Can cunning sin cover itself withal!— filed under Hypocrisy
A rhapsody of words. O, she is fallen Into a pit of ink? that the wide sea Hath drops too few to wash her clean again; And salt too little, which may season give To her foul tainted flesh.— filed under Incontinence
Did I not tell you she was innocent?— filed under Innocence
I have mark'd A thousand blushing apparitions start Into her face; a thousand innocent shames In angel whiteness bear away those blushes; And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire, To burn the errors that these princes hold Against her maiden truth.— filed under Innocence
There appears much joy in him; even so much that joy could not show itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness. *** A kind overflow of kindness: There are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy, than to joy at weeping!— filed under Joy
If he be not in love with some woman, there is no be lieving old signs: he brushes his hat o' mornings; -what should that bode?— filed under Love
The greatest note of it is his melancholy.— filed under Love
I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviour to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn, by falling in love.— filed under Love
If I do not take pity of her, I'm a villain; if I do not love her, I am a Jew: I will go get her picture.— filed under Love
He was wont to speak plain, and to the purpose, like an honest man, and a soldier; and now he has turn'd ortho grapher; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.— filed under Love
Hang him, truant; there's no true drop of blood in him, to be truly touch'd with love: if he be sad, he wants money.— filed under Love
Love is your master, for he masters you: And he that is so yoked by a fool Should'st not, methinks, be chronicled for wise. T. Gi.1. If it prove so, then loving goes by haps; Some Cupids kill with arrows, some with traps.— filed under Love
Time goes on crutches till love have all his rites.— filed under Love
One woman is fair; yet I am well: another is wise; yet I am well: another is virtuous; yet I am well: but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come into my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musi ciar, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.— filed under Love
Man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.— filed under Man
We have been up and down to seek for thee; for we are high proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away:— filed under Melancholy
From the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, he is all mirth; he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bow-string, and the little hangman dare not shoot at him: he hath heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for— filed under Mirth
Cmischief strangely thwarting!— filed under Mischief
But who dare tell her so? If I should speak, She'd mock me into air; O, she would laugh me Out of myself, press me to death with wit. Therefore let Benedick, like cover'd fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly: It were a better death than die with mocks;— filed under Mockery
It is the witness still of excellency, To put a strange face on his own perfection.— filed under Modesty
Bashful sincerity and comely love.— filed under Modesty
I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend to no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.— filed under Moody
With speedy help doth lend redress. Tax not so bad a voice To slander music any more than once.— filed under Music
Thou see'st that all the grace that she hath left, Is that she will not add to her damnation A sin of perjury. She not denies it.— filed under Oaths
O God, defend me! how am I beset!— filed under Persecution
For there was never yet philosopher, That could endure the tooth-ach patiently; However they have writ the style of gods, And made a pish at chance and sufferance— filed under Phantasy
For it so falls out, That what we have, we prize not to the worth, Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, Why, then we rack the value; then we find The virtue, that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours.— filed under Possession
Who can blot that name With any just reproach?— filed under Purity
Here, man, I am at thy elbow.— filed under Readiness
Can virtue hide itself? Go to, mum, you are he graces will appear, and there's an end.— filed under Recognition
When he shall hear she died upon his words, The idea of her life shall sweetly creep Into his study of imagination; And every lovely organ of her life Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, More moving delicate, and full of life, Into the eye and prospect of his soul,— filed under Remorse
I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo— filed under Rhymster
Call the rest of the watch together, and thank God you— filed under Riddance
Shall quips, and sentences, and these paper bullets of the hrain, awe a man from the career of his humour?— filed under Ridicule
Shakespearian Dictionary. SAT I do note, That grief and patience, rooted in him both, Cym. iv.2 Mingle their spurs together. There is no measure in the occasion that breeds it, there fore the sadness is without limit.— filed under Sadness
This learned constable is too cunning to be understood.— filed under Sagacity
She speaks poignards, and every word stabs; if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her, she would infect the north star.— filed under Sarcasms
A very dull fool; his only gift is in devising impossible slanders; none but libertines delight in him; and the commendation is not in his wit, but in his villainy; for he both pleases men, and angers them, and then they laugh at him, and beat him.— filed under Satirist
The flat transgression of a schoolboy; who, being overjoyed with finding a bird's nest, shows it to his companion, and he steals it.— filed under Schoolboy Simplicity
I have a good eye, uncle: I can see a church by day-lit.— filed under Seeing
Out on thy seeming! I will write against it: You seem to me as Dian in her orb; As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown; But you are more intemperate in your blood Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals That rage in savage sensuality.— filed under Seeming
Fie, fie, they are Not to be nam'd, my lord, not to be spoke of; There is not chastity enough in language, Without offence to utter them.— filed under Shame
An he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would have hanged him; and I pray God his bad— filed under Sin
voice bode no mischief. Tax not so bad a voice To slander music any more than once.— filed under Sin
That dare as well answer a man, indeed, As I dare take a serpent by the tongue: Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops?— filed under Slander
I am trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog.— filed under Slave At Large
I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye, That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand Than to drive liking to the name of love: But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts Have left their places vacant, in their rooms— filed under Soldier
How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can see him. but I am heart-burned an hour after.— filed under Sour Looks
Neighbours, you are tedious.— filed under Tediousness
But, truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a tedious as a king, I could find in my heart to bestow it all of your all of your worship.— filed under Tediousness
Some treason, masters; yet stand close.— filed under Treason
In a false quarrel their is no true valour.— filed under Valour
A victory is twice itself, when the achiever brings home full numbers.— filed under Victory
When rich villains have need of poor ones, poor ones may make what price they will.— filed under Villain
I like not fair terms, and a villain's mind. In this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied that I am a plain-dealing villain.— filed under Villain
I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed: she would have made Hercules have turned spit; yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too. ** I would to God some scholar would conjure her; for, certainly, while she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell, as in a sanctuary.— filed under Virago
Why, you speak like an antient and most quiet watchman; iii.— filed under Watchman
Would it not grieve a woman to be over-mastered by a piece of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marle ?— filed under Wife
Odd quirks and remnants of wit.— filed under Wit
modity. By my troth, we that have good wits, have much to answer for; we shall be flouting; we cannot hold. A.V. v.— filed under Wit
O, she would laugh me Out of myself, press me to death with wit.— filed under Wit
He doth, indeed, show some sparks that are like wit.— filed under Wit
God help me! how long have you profess'd apprehension?— filed under Wit
He'll but break a comparison or two on me; which, peradventure, not marked, or not laughed at, strikes him intc melancholy; and then there's a partridge's wing saved, for the fool will eat no supper that night.— filed under Wit
For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder, I know not what to say.— filed under Wonder
Wooing, wedding, and repenting, are as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque pace: the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly modest, as a measure full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster, till he sink into his— filed under Wooing, Wedding, And Repenting