Quoteskimming
The quote in today's icon is, as many of you will recognize, from Hamlet, Act I, sc. 3, when Polonius gives Laertes a laundry list of platitudes.
Brush Up Your Shakespeare Month ended earlier this week, so I thought I'd create a post out of some of my favorite Shakespeare quotes from the plays covered in the second half of the month that are sometimes useful in everyday conversation. The plays covered include Macbeth through A Midsummer Night's Dream, or so my handy dandy directory informs me.
Macbeth
"Fair is foul and foul is fair." The Witches, Act I, sc. 1.
"Screw your courage to the sticking place" Lady Macbeth, Act I, sc. 7.
"What's done is done." Lady Macbeth, Act III, sc. 2.
"Blood will have blood." Macbeth, Act III, sc. 4.
" . . . at one fell swoop?" Macduff, Act IV, sc. 3.
"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him." Lady Macduff, Act V, sc. 1.
"What's done cannot be undone." Id.
"Throw physic to the dogs. I'll none of it." Macbeth, Act V, sc. 3.
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day" Macbeth, Act V, sc. 5.
"Out, out, brief candle!" Id.
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." Id.
"Lay on, Macduff" Macbeth, Act V, sc. 8.
Twelfth Night
"If music be the food of love, play on." Orsino, Act I, sc. 1.
"Better a witty Fool than a foolish wit." Feste, Act I, sc. 5.
"I am the man." Viola, Act II, sc. 2.
"She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief." Viola, Act II, sc. 4.
"[B]e not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Malvolio, reading a letter, Act II, sc. 5.
"Love sought is good, but given unsought better." Olivia, Act III, sc. 1.
"If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction." Fabian, Act III, sc. 4.
"Nothing that is so is so." Feste, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Now heaven walks on earth." Orsino, Act V, sc. 1.
"He's the very devil incardinate." Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Act V, sc. 1.
"Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!" Olivia, Act V, sc. 1.
"And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges." Feste, Act V, sc. 1.
"For the rain it raineth every day." Id.
Richard III
"Now is the winter of our discontent". Richard, Act I, sc. 1.
"Was ever woman in this humor wooed?
Was ever woman in this humor won?" Richard, Act I, sc. 2.
"O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious." Murderer, Act I, sc. 4.
"Off with his head!" Richard, Act III, sc. 4. (And here you thought it was originated by the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Shakespeare used it elsewhere as well, including in Henry VI, pt. 3.)
"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" Richard, Act V, sc. 4.
As You Like It
"How now, wit! whither wander you?" Celia, Act I, sc. 2.
"Well said: that was laid on with a trowel." Id.
"I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs." Jaques, Act II, sc. 5.
"And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale." Jaques, recounting conversation with Touchstone, Act II, sc. 7.
"True is it that we have seen better days." Duke Senior, Act II, sc. 7.
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages." Jaques, Act II, sc. 7.
"Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude". Amiens, Act II, sc. 7.
"Love is merely a madness[.]" Rosalind, Act III, sc. 2.
"[T]he truest poetry is the most feigning." Touchstone, Act III, sc. 3.
"Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?" Phoebe, Act III, sc. 5.
"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." Rosalind, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?" Id.
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." Touchstone, Act V, sc. 1.
"I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways." Id.
Othello
"I am not what I am." Iago, Act I, sc. 1.
" . . . making the beast with two backs." Id.
" . . . 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange" Othello, Act I, sc. 3.
"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser." Iago, Act II, sc. 3.
"O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on." Iago, Act III, sc. 3.
"Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content!" Othello, Act III, sc. 3.
"Put out the light, and then put out the light." Othello, Act V, sc. 2.
King Lear
"Nothing will come of nothing" Lear, Act I, sc. 1.
"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth." Cordelia, Act I, sc. 1.
"Come not between the dragon and his wrath." Lear, Act I, sc. 1.
"Now, gods, stand up for bastards!" Edmund, Act I, sc. 2.
"We have seen the best of our time: machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves." Gloucester, Act I, sc. 2.
"The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,
That it's had it head bit off by it young.
So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling." Fool, Act I, sc. 4.
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!" Lear, Act I, sc. 4.
"Man's life is cheap as beast's." Lear, Act II, sc. 4.
"I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!" Lear, Act II, sc. 4.
"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!" Act III, sc. 2.
"The art of our necessities is strange,
And can make vile things precious." Id.
"O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that." Act III, sc. 4.
"The prince of darkness is a gentleman." Edgard, Act III, sc. 4.
"He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath." Fool, Act III, sc. 6.
"And worse I may be yet; the worst is not,
So long as we can say, This is the worst." Edgar, Act IV, sc. 1.
"You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face." Albany, Act IV, sc. 2.
"Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile:
Filths savour but themselves." Id.
"I fear I am not in my perfect mind." Lear, Act IV, sc. 7.
"You must bear with me:
Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and foolish." Id.
"The wheel is come full circle: I am here." Edmund, Act V, sc. 3.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
"The course of true love never did run smooth." Lysander, Act I, sc. 1.
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Helena, Act I, sc. 1.
"Take pains. Be perfect. Adieu." Bottom, Act I, sc. 2.
"Enough. Hold or cut bow strings." Id.
"Ill met by moonlight, Titania." Oberon, Act II, sc. 1.
"Tarry, rash wanton." Id.
"These are the forgeries of jealousy". Titania, Act II, sc. 1.
"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays." Bottom, Act III, sc. 1.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Puck, Act III, sc. 2.
"Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down." Id.
"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there is no man can tell what. Methought I was and methought I had--but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had." Bottom, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends." Theseus, Act V, sc. 1.
"How easy is a bush supposed a bear!" Id.
"That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow!" Id.
"Lovers to bed; 'tis almost fairy time." Id.
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear." Puck, Act V, sc. 1.
Brush Up Your Shakespeare Month ended earlier this week, so I thought I'd create a post out of some of my favorite Shakespeare quotes from the plays covered in the second half of the month that are sometimes useful in everyday conversation. The plays covered include Macbeth through A Midsummer Night's Dream, or so my handy dandy directory informs me.
Macbeth
"Fair is foul and foul is fair." The Witches, Act I, sc. 1.
"Screw your courage to the sticking place" Lady Macbeth, Act I, sc. 7.
"What's done is done." Lady Macbeth, Act III, sc. 2.
"Blood will have blood." Macbeth, Act III, sc. 4.
" . . . at one fell swoop?" Macduff, Act IV, sc. 3.
"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him." Lady Macduff, Act V, sc. 1.
"What's done cannot be undone." Id.
"Throw physic to the dogs. I'll none of it." Macbeth, Act V, sc. 3.
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day" Macbeth, Act V, sc. 5.
"Out, out, brief candle!" Id.
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." Id.
"Lay on, Macduff" Macbeth, Act V, sc. 8.
Twelfth Night
"If music be the food of love, play on." Orsino, Act I, sc. 1.
"Better a witty Fool than a foolish wit." Feste, Act I, sc. 5.
"I am the man." Viola, Act II, sc. 2.
"She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief." Viola, Act II, sc. 4.
"[B]e not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Malvolio, reading a letter, Act II, sc. 5.
"Love sought is good, but given unsought better." Olivia, Act III, sc. 1.
"If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction." Fabian, Act III, sc. 4.
"Nothing that is so is so." Feste, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Now heaven walks on earth." Orsino, Act V, sc. 1.
"He's the very devil incardinate." Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Act V, sc. 1.
"Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!" Olivia, Act V, sc. 1.
"And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges." Feste, Act V, sc. 1.
"For the rain it raineth every day." Id.
Richard III
"Now is the winter of our discontent". Richard, Act I, sc. 1.
"Was ever woman in this humor wooed?
Was ever woman in this humor won?" Richard, Act I, sc. 2.
"O sir, it is better to be brief than tedious." Murderer, Act I, sc. 4.
"Off with his head!" Richard, Act III, sc. 4. (And here you thought it was originated by the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Shakespeare used it elsewhere as well, including in Henry VI, pt. 3.)
"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" Richard, Act V, sc. 4.
As You Like It
"How now, wit! whither wander you?" Celia, Act I, sc. 2.
"Well said: that was laid on with a trowel." Id.
"I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs." Jaques, Act II, sc. 5.
"And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale." Jaques, recounting conversation with Touchstone, Act II, sc. 7.
"True is it that we have seen better days." Duke Senior, Act II, sc. 7.
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages." Jaques, Act II, sc. 7.
"Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude". Amiens, Act II, sc. 7.
"Love is merely a madness[.]" Rosalind, Act III, sc. 2.
"[T]he truest poetry is the most feigning." Touchstone, Act III, sc. 3.
"Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?" Phoebe, Act III, sc. 5.
"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." Rosalind, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?" Id.
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." Touchstone, Act V, sc. 1.
"I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways." Id.
Othello
"I am not what I am." Iago, Act I, sc. 1.
" . . . making the beast with two backs." Id.
" . . . 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange" Othello, Act I, sc. 3.
"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser." Iago, Act II, sc. 3.
"O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on." Iago, Act III, sc. 3.
"Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content!" Othello, Act III, sc. 3.
"Put out the light, and then put out the light." Othello, Act V, sc. 2.
King Lear
"Nothing will come of nothing" Lear, Act I, sc. 1.
"Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth." Cordelia, Act I, sc. 1.
"Come not between the dragon and his wrath." Lear, Act I, sc. 1.
"Now, gods, stand up for bastards!" Edmund, Act I, sc. 2.
"We have seen the best of our time: machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves." Gloucester, Act I, sc. 2.
"The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long,
That it's had it head bit off by it young.
So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling." Fool, Act I, sc. 4.
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!" Lear, Act I, sc. 4.
"Man's life is cheap as beast's." Lear, Act II, sc. 4.
"I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws
Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!" Lear, Act II, sc. 4.
"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!" Act III, sc. 2.
"The art of our necessities is strange,
And can make vile things precious." Id.
"O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that." Act III, sc. 4.
"The prince of darkness is a gentleman." Edgard, Act III, sc. 4.
"He's mad, that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath." Fool, Act III, sc. 6.
"And worse I may be yet; the worst is not,
So long as we can say, This is the worst." Edgar, Act IV, sc. 1.
"You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face." Albany, Act IV, sc. 2.
"Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile:
Filths savour but themselves." Id.
"I fear I am not in my perfect mind." Lear, Act IV, sc. 7.
"You must bear with me:
Pray you now, forget and forgive: I am old and foolish." Id.
"The wheel is come full circle: I am here." Edmund, Act V, sc. 3.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
"The course of true love never did run smooth." Lysander, Act I, sc. 1.
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Helena, Act I, sc. 1.
"Take pains. Be perfect. Adieu." Bottom, Act I, sc. 2.
"Enough. Hold or cut bow strings." Id.
"Ill met by moonlight, Titania." Oberon, Act II, sc. 1.
"Tarry, rash wanton." Id.
"These are the forgeries of jealousy". Titania, Act II, sc. 1.
"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays." Bottom, Act III, sc. 1.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Puck, Act III, sc. 2.
"Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down." Id.
"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there is no man can tell what. Methought I was and methought I had--but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had." Bottom, Act IV, sc. 1.
"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends." Theseus, Act V, sc. 1.
"How easy is a bush supposed a bear!" Id.
"That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow!" Id.
"Lovers to bed; 'tis almost fairy time." Id.
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear." Puck, Act V, sc. 1.