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Shakespeare Quotes from Twelfth Night
I smell it; upon my life, it will do well. H. IV. PT. I. i.— filed under Ant
What's to do?— filed under Ant
I think oxen and wain-ropes cannot hale them together.— filed under Aversion
Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity.— filed under Aversion
A better speech was never heard before. BANTERING. -continued. Close, in the name of jesting!— filed under Bantering
! Now, Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard— filed under Beard
That e'er the sun shone bright on 'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white cunning hand laid , Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on : on : Lady, you are the cruellest she alive the If you will lead these graces to the grave, grave,— filed under Beauty
It shall be inventoried; and every particle, and utensil, labelled to my will; as, item , two lips, indifferent red; item, two grey eyes, with lids to them; item, one neck, one chin, and so forth.— filed under Beauty
Here's the challenge, read it; I warrant there's vinegar and pepper in't.— filed under Challenge
I'll write thee a challenge; or I'll deliver thy indignation by word of mouth.— filed under Challenge
Go, write it in a martial hand; be curst and brief; it is no matter how witty, so it be eloquent, and full of invention; taunt him with the license of ink.— filed under Challenge
This will so fright them both, that they will kill one— filed under Cock, Crowing
'Twas never merry world— filed under Compliment
I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar smile with an austere regard of controul.— filed under Condescension
Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him; how he jets under his advanced plumes!— filed under Contemplation
Make me a willow cabin at your gate, And call upon my soul within the house: Write loyal cantons of contemned love, And sing them loud even in the dead of night; Holla your name to the reverberate hills, And make the babbling gossip of the air Cry out, Olivia! O, you should not rest Between the elements of air and earth, But you should pity me.— filed under Courtship
A coward, a most devout coward; religious in it.— filed under Cowards
We took him for a coward, but he's the very devil incar— filed under Toward
He's a great quarreller; and, but that he hath the gift of a coward, to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent, he would quickly have the gift of a grave.— filed under Coward
I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes With the memorials and the things of fame, That do renown this city.— filed under Curiosities
Madam, thou errest: I say, there is no darkness but ignorance; in which thou art more puzzled, than the Egyptians in their fog.— filed under Daring
Why, thou hast put him in such a dream, that, when the image of it leaves him, he must run mad.— filed under Delusion
Ay, an you had any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels than fortunes before you.— filed under Detraction
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness,— filed under Disguise
Like a drowned man, a fool, and a madman; one draught above heat makes him a fool; the second mads him; and a third drowns him.— filed under Drunkard
Your words have took such pains, as if they labour'd To bring manslaughter into form, set quarrelling Upon the head of valour; which, indeed, Is valour misbegot, and came into the world When sects and factions were but newly born. T. A. iii. 5. He is a devil in a private brawl: souls and bodies hath he divorced three; and his incensement at this moment is so implacable, that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre; hob, nob, is his word; give't, or take't.— filed under Duellist
My hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. T. S. IND. 2. The reverberate hills.— filed under Echo
The babbling gossip of the air— filed under Echo
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won, Than women's are.— filed under Espousals
There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain; And though that nature, with a beauteous wall, Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits With this thy fair and outward character.— filed under Exterior, Plausible
So full of shapes is fancy,— filed under Fancy
And let go by the actor. There's something in me that reproves my fault; But such a headstrong potent fault it is,— filed under Favour
I will not open my mouth so wide as a bristle may enter,— filed under Favour
Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee !— filed under Fool
Foolery, Sir, does walk about the orb, like the sun; it— filed under Fool
shines every where.— filed under Fool
I'll be sworn thou art; Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, Do give thee five-fold blazon.— filed under Gentleman
Well, God give them wisdom that have it: and those that are fools, let them use their talents.— filed under Gifts
Some are born great:-some achieve greatness;-some have greatness thrust upon them.— filed under Greatness
Meddle you must, that's certain; or forswear to wear iron— filed under Honour
His indignation derives itself out of a very competent injury.— filed under Indignation
I hate ingratitude more in a man, Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, Or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption— filed under Ingratitude
I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of my injury.— filed under Injured Man
For your conversion. He is a knight, dubbed with unhacked rapier, and on— filed under Knighthood
Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?— filed under Late Hours
I'll have an action of battery against him, if there be any— filed under Litigation
O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou !— filed under Love
Come hither, boy: If ever thou shalt love, In the sweet pangs of it, remember me; For, such as I am, all true lovers are; Unstaid and skittish in all motions else, Save in the constant image of the creature That is belov'd.— filed under Love
Tell her, my love, more noble than the world, Prizes not quantity of dirty lands; The parts that fortune hath bestow'd upon her, Tell her, I hold as giddily as fortune; But 'tis that miracle, and queen of gems, That nature pranks her in, attracts my soul.— filed under Love
She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask'd cheek: she pin'd in thought; And, with a green and yellow melancholy, She sat, like Patience on a monument, Smiling at grief.— filed under Love
However we do praise ourselves. Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won, Than women's are.— filed under Love
We men may say more, swear more: but indeed, Our shows are more than will; for still we prove Much in our vows, but little in our love.— filed under Love
O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame, To pay this debt of love but to a brother, How will she love, when the rich golden shaft Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else That live in her! when liver, brain, and heart, These sovereign thrones, are all supplied and fill'd (Her sweet perfections,) with one self king!- Away before me to sweet beds of flowers; Love-thoughts lie rich, when canopied with bowers.— filed under Love
With adorations, and with fertile tears, With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire. T. N. i. 5. How now? Even so quickly may one catch the plague? Methinks, I feel this youth's perfections, With an invisible and subtle stealth, To creep in at mine eyes.— filed under Love
A murd'rous guilt shows not itself more noon Than love that would seem hid; love's night is soon.— filed under Love
Diana's lip Is not more smooth and rubious.— filed under Lover's Vows
Shakespearian Dictionary. MAG I am as mad as he,— filed under Madness
MARRIAGE (SEE also ESPOUSAL). A contract of eternal bond of love, Confirmed by mutual joinder of your hands, Attested by the holy close of lips, Strengthened by interchangement of your rings; And all the ceremony of this compact Seal'd in my function by my testimony.— filed under Manuscript
My stars shine darkly over me.— filed under Misfortune
I perceive in you so excellent a touch of modesty, that you will not extort from me what I am willing to keep in; herefore it charges me in manners the rather to express myself.— filed under Modesty
If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.- That strain again; -it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er mine ear like the sweet south, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour.— filed under Music
He plays o' th' viol-de-gambo.— filed under Music
And you are now sailed into the north of my lady's opinion, where you will hang like an icicle in a Dutchman's beard, unless you do redeem it by some laudable attempt, either of valour, or policy.— filed under Neglect
Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's end. as well as a man in his case may do.— filed under Parrying
Any thing that's mended, is but patched: virtue, that transgresses, is but patched with sin; and sin, that amends is but patched with virtue.— filed under Pastime
So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile; We lose it not, so long as we can smile, He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears But the free comfort which from thence he hears: But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow, That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow. O. i. 3 Nay, patience, or we break the sinews of our plot.— filed under Patience
Like a pedant, that keeps a school i' the church.— filed under Pedant
But we will draw the curtain, and show you the picture.— filed under Picture
Jove and my stars be prais'd, here is yet a postscript!— filed under Postscript
Marry, Sir, they praise me and make an ass of me: now my foes tell me plainly, I'm an ass; so that by my foes, Sir,— filed under Praise
O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!— filed under Pride
Come hither, Fabian; we'll whisper o'er a couplet or two— filed under Proverbs
Have you not set mine honour at the stake, And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts That tyrannous heart can think?— filed under Provocation
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?— filed under Prudery
To see this age! A sentence is but a cheverill glove to a good wit; how quickly the wrong side may be turn'd outward!— filed under Quibbling
We may carry it thus for our pleasure, and his penance, till our very pastime, tired out of breath, prompt us to have mercy on him.— filed under Raillery
'Tis in grain, Sir; 'twill endure wind and weather.— filed under Reality
I have no exquisite reason for't, but I have reason good enough.— filed under Reason
I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-device, the very man.— filed under Refinement
I have said too much unto a heart of stone, And laid my honour too unchary out.— filed under Repulse
My fame is shrewdly gor'd. These wise men that give fools money, get themselves— filed under Reputation
He does smile his face into more lines, than are in the are in the new map, with the augmentation of the Indies. T.N. iii.— filed under Risibility
Here's an overwheening rogue!— filed under Rogue
I would have men of such constancy put to sea, that their business might be every thing, and their intent every where; for that's it, that always makes a good voyage of nothing.— filed under Rovers
Rest you fair, good Signior.— filed under Salutation
Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves, Where manners ne'er were preached.— filed under Savage
The best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his ground of faith, that all, that look on him, love him.— filed under Self-Conceited
Look, how imagination blows him.— filed under Self-Conceited
In few, they hurried us aboard the bark; Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us, To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong. 2.1.2 To comfort you with chance, Assure yourself, after our ship did split, When you, and that poor number sav'd with you, Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, Most provident in peril, bind himself (Courage and hope both teaching him the practice) To a strong mast, that liv'd upon the sea, Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves, So long as I could see.— filed under Shipwrecks
Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other. O. ii. 3. Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song, That old and antique song we heard last night; Methought it did relieve my passion much; More than light airs and recollected terms,— filed under Song
Mark it, Cesario; it is old, and plain; The spinsters, and the knitters in the sun, And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth, And dallies with the innocence of love,— filed under Song
Shall we rouse the night owl in a catch?— filed under Song
A cypress, not a bosom, Hides my poor heart.— filed under Sorrow
I would be loath to cast away my speech; for, besides that it is excellently well penn'd, I have taken great pains— filed under Speech
Sport royal, I warrant you. Nay, I'll come; if I lose a scruple of this sport, let me— filed under Sport
If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.— filed under Strange Occurrence
Whether they live or die. How runs the stream?— filed under Stupefaction
For it comes to pass oft, that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him.— filed under Swearing
Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool Art thou, to break into this woman's mood; Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own! H.IV. PT.1.1.3. If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reason, be brief; 'tis not that time of the moon with me, to make one in so— filed under Talker
Often good turns Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay: But, were my worth, as is my conscience, firm, You should find better dealing.— filed under Thanks
The clock upbraids me with the waste of time. T. N. iii.— filed under Time
The devil a puritan is he, or any thing constantly, but a time-pleaser.— filed under Time
Plague on't; an I thought he had been valiant, and so cunning in fence, I'd have seen him damned ere I'd have challenged him.— filed under Valour
Muster your wits: stand on your defence; Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence. L. L. v. 2. Those wits that think they have thee, do very oft prove fools; and I, that am sure I lack thee, may pass for a wise man: for what says Quinapalus? Better a witty fool, than— filed under Wit
You should then have accosted her; and with some excellent jest, fire-new from the mint, you should have banged— filed under Wit
the youth into dumbness. Have you not set mine honour at the stake, And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts That tyrannous heart can think?— filed under Wit
Words are very rascals since bonds disgraced them.— filed under Words
Words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason with them.— filed under Words
They that dally nicely with words, may quickly mak them wanton.— filed under Words
I protest, I take these wise men, that crow so at these kind of fools, no better set kind of fools, no better than the fools' zanies. than the fools' zanies.— filed under Zanies
To whose ingrate and unauspicious altars, My soul the faithfull'st offerings hath breath'd out, That e'er devotion tender'd.— filed under Zeal Disregarded