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Shakespeare Quotes from The Winter's Tale
Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet, I'd have you do it ever: when you sing, I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; Pray so; and, for the order of your affairs, To sing them too: When you do dance, I wish you A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do Nothing but that; move still, still so, and own No other function: Each your doing, So singular in each particular, Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds,— filed under Adoration
I would there were no age between ten and three-andtwenty; or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing between but wenching, wronging the ancientry, stealing, and fighting.— filed under Age
But the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo, with there were very notos of admiration: they seemed almost, staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes; , was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesin ture; they looke 1, as they had heard of a world ransomed or one destroyed. A notable passion of wonder appeared them: but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing, could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow:— filed under Amazement
I have heard (but not believ'd) the spirits of the dead May walk again : if such thing be, thy mother Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream So like a waking.— filed under Apparition
Nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean; so, o'er that art Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art— filed under Art And Nature
That nature makes. This is an art Which does mend nature, change it rather; but— filed under Art And Nature
Five justices' hands to it, and authorities more than my— filed under Aversion
authority. And though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft— filed under Authority
Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter.— filed under Autumn
I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter merrily set down; or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.— filed under Ballads
I love a ballad in print a' life; for then we are sure they— filed under Ballads
Might shake off fifty looking in her . The most peerless piece of earth, I think,— filed under Beauty
This is such a creature, Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal proselytes . Of all professors else; make— filed under Beauty
Come, quench your blushes; and present yourself that which you are, the mistress of the feast.— filed under Blushes
In mangled forms. Every lane's end, every shop, church, session, hanging,— filed under Collector
We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun, And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd Was innocence for innocence; we knew not The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd That any did.— filed under Companions, Juvenile
I am a courtier. See'st thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings? Hath not my gait in it the measure of the court? Receiveth not thy nose court-odour from me? Reflect I not on thy baseness court-contempt?— filed under Ourage
And, indeed, Sir, there are cozeners abroad; therefore it— filed under Cozeners
And overlooks the highest peering hills. 'Tis a lucky day, boy; and we'll do good deeds on't.— filed under Day
You are abus'd, and, by some putter on That will be damn'd for't;-would I knew the villain— filed under Deceit
I, an old turtle, Will wing me to some wither'd bough; and there My mate, that's never to be found again, Lament till I am lost.— filed under Desolation
And with a countenance as clear As friendship wears at feasts.— filed under Dissimulation
was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband; another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled; she lifted the princes from the earth; and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart.— filed under Emotions, Conflicting
O, what men dare do! what men may do! what men M.A.iv.1. daily do! not knowing what they do! When from things true, the heart and eyes have err'd, To a false plague they often are transferr'd. Poems In your affairs, my lord, If ever I were wilful-negligent, It was my folly; if industriously I play'd the fool, it was my negligence, Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful To do a thing, where I the issue doubted, Whereof the execution did cry out Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear Which oft affects the wisest: these, my lord, Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty Is never free of.— filed under Fond
I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipped out of the court.— filed under Expulsion
EYE-BROWs. Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say, there be not Become some women best; so that there be not circle, Too much hair there, but in a semi-— filed under Eye
Why look you so upon me? I am but sorry, not afear'd; delay'd, Shakesprarian Dictionary. But nothing alter'd: What I was, I am : More straining on for plucking back.— filed under Fidelity
For all the sun sees, or The close earth wombs, or the profound seas hide In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath— filed under Fidelity
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me. I have an ill-divining soul : Methinks I see thee now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: Either my eye-sight fails, or thou look'st pale. R. J iii. 5 The skies look grimly, And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The heavens with that we have in hand are angry,— filed under Foreboding
See, where she comes, apparell'd like the spring. P. P. i. 1. Flora, peering in April's front.— filed under Gaiety
She prizes not such trifles as these are: The gifts, she looks from me, are pack'd and lock'd Up in my heart; which I have given already, But not deliver'd.— filed under Gifts
Good, my lords, I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are; the want of which vain dew, Perchance, shall dry your pities; but I have That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns Worse than tears drown.— filed under Grief
One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes (caught the water, though not the fish) was, when at the relation of the queen's death, with the manner how she came to it, (bravely confessed and lamented by the king), how attentiveness wounded his daughter: till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an alas! I would fain say, bleed tears; for, I am sure, my heart wept blood. Who was most marble there, changed colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world could have seen it, the woe had been universal.— filed under Grief
Once a day I'll visit The chapel where they lie: and tears, shed there, Shall be my recreation: so long as Nature Will bear up with this exercise, so long I daily vow to use it.— filed under Rief
What's gone, and what's past help,— filed under Rief
We need no grave to bury honesty; There's not a grain of it the face to sweeten— filed under Honesty
Was once thought honest. Ha, ha, what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his sworn— filed under Honesty
brother, a very simple gentleman! Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by— filed under Honesty
I am the most offending soul alive. Life every man holds dear; but the dear man Holds honour far more precious-dear than life. T. C. v. 3 For life, I prize, it, As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour, 'Tis a derivative from me to mine, And only that I stand for.— filed under Honour
Good, my lord, be cur'd Of this diseas'd opinion, and betimes; For 'tis most dangerous.— filed under Jealousy
A spider steep'd, and one may drink; depart. And yet partake no venom; for his knowledge Is pot infected: but if one present The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, With violent hefts :-I have drunk, and seen the spider.— filed under Jealousy
The shrug, the hum, or ha; these pretty brands, That calumny doth use:-0, I am out, That mercy does; for calumny will seer Virtue itself;-these shrugs, these hums, and has, When you have said, she's goodly, come between, Ere you can say she's honest.— filed under Jealousy
Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible Of breaking honesty :) horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift? Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes blind With the pin and web, but theirs, theirs only, That would unseen be wicked?-is this nothing Why, then, the world, and all that's in't, is nothing; The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing; My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings, If this be nothing.— filed under Jealousy
But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers, As now they are; and making practis'd smiles, As in a looking-glass; - and then to sigh, as 'twere The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment— filed under Jealousy
Have you not seen, Camillo, (But that's past doubt: you have; or your eye-glass Is thicker than a cuckold's horn); or heard, (For, to a vision so apparent, rumour Cannot be mute); or thought, (for cogitation Resides not in that man, that does not think it) My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess, (Or else be impudently negative, To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought), then say, My wife's a hobby-horse; deserves a name As rank as any flax-wench, that puts to Before her troth-plight: say it, and justify it.— filed under Jealousy
Swear his thought over By each particular star in heaven, and By all their influences, you may as well Forbid the sea for to obey the moon, As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake, The fabric of his folly; whose foundation Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue The standing of his body.— filed under Inflexibility
We do not know How he may soften at the sight o' the child; The silence often of pure innocence T Persuades, when speaking fails.— filed under Innocence
If powers divine Behold our human actions, (as they do) I doubt not then, but innocence shall make False accusation blush, and tyranny— filed under Innocence
Delay'd, But nothing alter'd: What I was, I am.— filed under Instrument
If I shall be condemn'd Upon surmises; all proofs sleeping else, But what your jealousies await; I tell you, 'Tis rigour, and not law.— filed under Judgment, Justice
You may ride us, With one soft kiss, a thousand furlongs, ere— filed under Kindness
With such a zealous laughter, so profound. Stopping the career of laughter with a sigh.— filed under Laughter
Let me have no lying; it becomes none but tradesmen.— filed under Letter
Camillo. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they, that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man. Archidamus. Would they else be content to die? Camillo.-Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live. Archidamus. If the king had no son, they would they desire to live on crutches till he had one.— filed under Life
The gods themselves, Humbling their deities to love, have taken The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter Became a bull and bellow'd; the green Neptune A ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god, Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain, As I seem now: Their transformations Were never for a piece of beauty, rarer; Nor in a way so chaste: since my desires Run not before mine honour.— filed under Love
He says, he loves my daughter; I think so too; for never gaz'd the moon Upon the water, as he'll stand and read, As 'twere, my daughter's eyes: and, to be plain, I think, there is not half a kiss to choose, Who loves another best.— filed under Love
Love will suspect where is no cause of fear; And there not fear where it should most distrust. Poems. Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, Should, without eyes, see path-ways to his will! R. J. i. 1. Were I crown'd the most imperial monarch, 'Thereof most worthy; were I the fairest youth That ever made eye swerve; had force and knowledge, More than was ever man's, -I would not prize them, Without her love: for her, employ them all; Commend them, and condemn them, to her service, Or to their own perdition.— filed under Love
Sooth, when I was young, And handed love, as you do, I was wont To load my she with knacks; I would have ransack'd The pedlar's silken treasury, and have pour'd it— filed under Love
You're a made old man; if the sins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold !— filed under Luck
Pale primroses, That die unmarried, ere they can behold Bright Phœbus in his strength, a malady Most incident to maids.— filed under Manuscript
See, your guests approach: Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, And let's be red with mirth.— filed under Mirth
Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way And merrily hent the stile-a, A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a.— filed under Mirth
He makes a July's day short as December; And, with his varying childness, cures in me Thoughts that would thick my blood.— filed under Mirth
That long time have been barren. Such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour, that the ballad-makers cannot be able to express it.— filed under News
There might you have beheld one joy crown another; so, and in such manner, that, it seemed, sorrow wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands; with countenance of such distraction, that they were to be known by— filed under News
The times are wild. Like an old tale still; which will have matter to rehearse,— filed under News
though credit be asleep, and not an ear open. How goes it now, Sir; this news, which is called true, called true, is so like an old tale, that the verity of it is in strong is in strong— filed under News
He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical a fantastical: a great man, I'll warrant.— filed under Vight
A good nose is requisite, to smell out work for the other senses.— filed under Vight
Now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by, like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings' reigns.— filed under Old And Familiar
He hath ribands of all the colours i' the rainbow: points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle, though they come to him by the gross; inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns: why, he sings them over, as they were gods or goddesses; you would think, a smock were a sheangel; he so chaunts to the sleeve hand, and the work about the square on't.— filed under Pedlar
Since what I am to say, must be but that Which contradicts my accusation; and The testimony on my part, no other But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me To say,-Not Guilty:-mine integrity Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it, Be so receiv'd. But thus, -if powers divine Behold our human actions (as they do) I doubt not then, but innocence shall make False accusation blush, and tyranny— filed under Plea
To hide your doings. Cram us with praise, and make us As fat as tame things: One good deed, dying tongueless, Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that:— filed under Praise
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods— filed under Praise
Prosperity's the very bond of love; Whose fresh complexion, and whose heart together, Affliction alters.— filed under Prosperity
To do this deed, Promotion follows: If I could find example Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings, And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but since Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one, Let villainy itself forswear't.— filed under Regicide
He must be told on't, and he shall: the office Becomes a woman best; I'll tak't upon me: If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister; And never to my red-look'd anger be The trumpet any more.— filed under Remonstrance
Says, that this deed is chronicled in hell. Once a day I'll visit The chapel where they lie; and tears shed there— filed under Remorse
I'll queen it no inch further ; But milk my ewes, and weep.— filed under Resignation
He so near to Hermione hath done Hermione, that, they say, one would speak to her and stand in hope of answer.— filed under Sculpture
Still, methinks, There is an air comes from her : what fine chizzel— filed under Sculpture
I would, you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, now it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point: O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see 'em and not to see 'em: now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast; and anon swallowed with yeast and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land service,--To see how the bear tore out his shouldersone; how he cried to me for help, and said his name was Antigonus, a nobleman:--But to make an end o' the ship: to see how the sea flap-dragon'd it:-but, first, how the poor souls roar'd, and the sea mock'd them;-and how the poor gentleman roar'd, and the bear mock'd him, both roaring louder than the sea, or weather.— filed under Shipwreck
The silence, often, of pure innocence, Persuades, when speaking fails.— filed under Silence
There was speech in their dumbness.— filed under Silence
It is silly sooth. By the pattern of mine own thougths, I cut out— filed under Simplicity
Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me,— filed under Sin
Calumny will sear virtue itself.— filed under Slander
For he The sacred honour of himself, his queen's, His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the sword's.— filed under Slander
No hearing, no feeling, but my Sir's song; and admiring the nothing of it.— filed under Song
There's scarce a maid westward but she sings it: 'tis in request, I can tell you.— filed under Song
O Proserpina, For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall From Dis's waggon! daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried, ere they can behold Bright Phœbus in his strength, a malady Most incident to maids; bold oxlips, and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one.— filed under Spring
A sad tale's best for winter: I have one of sprites and goblins. * * * * * I will tell it softly; yon crickets Shall not hear it.— filed under Tale
Incenses them to send destruction. I have seen two such sights, by sea, and by land; but I am not to say, it is a sea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.— filed under Tempest
I,-that please some, try all; both joy, and terror, Of good and bad; that make, and unfold error.— filed under Time
Let me pass:- The same I am, ere antient order was, Or what is now receiv'd. I witness to The times that brought them in; so shall I do To the freshest things now reigning, and make stale The glistering of this present.— filed under Time
Come what come may, Time and the hour run through the roughest day. M. i. 3. It is in my power To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hour, To plant and o'erwhelm custom.— filed under Time
For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen, A bloody tyrant, and a homicide; One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd; One that made means to come by what he hath, And slaughter'd those that were the means to help him; A base foul stone, made precious by the foil Of England's chair, where he is falsely set, One that hath ever been God's enemy: Then, if you fight against God's enemy, God will, in justice, ward you as his soldiers. R. III. v. 3. I'll not call you tyrant; But this most cruel usage of your queen (Not able to produce more accusation Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,) something savours Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you, Yea, scandalous to the world.— filed under Tyrant
Verily! You put me off with limber vows: But I, Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths, Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's.— filed under Verily
There is but one puritan amonst them, and he sings— filed under Vituperation
A man, they say, that from very nothing, beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unspeaka-— filed under Vows
Should all despair, That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is none: It is a bawdy planet, that will strike Where 'tis predominant.— filed under Wife
Briefly die their joys, That place them on the truth of girls and boys. Cym. v. 5 We were, fair queen, Two lads that thought there was no more behind, But such a day to-morrow as to-day, And to be boy eternal.— filed under Youth