That bucket down and full of tears am I, Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 181
You may my glories and my state depose, But not my griefs; still am I king of those.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 192
Now mark me how I will undo myself.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 203
With mine own tears I wash away my balm, With mine own hands I give away my crown.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 207
God pardon all oaths that are broke to me! God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee!
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 214
Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see: And yet salt water blinds them not so much But they can see a sort of traitors here. Nay, if I turn my eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the rest.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 244
A brittle glory shineth in this face: As brittle as the glory is the face.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 4, sc. 1, l. 287
This is the way
To Julius Caesar’s ill-erected tower.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 1
I am sworn brother, sweet, To grim Necessity, and he and I Will keep a league till death.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 20
In winter’s tedious nights sit by the fire
With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales Of woeful ages, long ago betid;
And ere thou bid good night, to quit their grief, Tell thou the lamentable tale of me,
And send the hearers weeping to their beds.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 40
That were some love but little policy.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 84
As in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, Thinking his prattle to be tedious;
Even so, or with much more contempt, men’s eyes Did scowl on Richard.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. 23
Who are the violets now
That strew the green lap of the new come spring?
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 2, l. 46
He prays but faintly and would be denied.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 3, l. 103
I have been studying how I may compare This prison where I live unto the world.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 1
How sour sweet music is,
When time is broke, and no proportion kept! So is it in the music of men’s lives.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 42
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 49
Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high, Whilst my gross flesh sinks downwards here to die.
‘Richard II’ (1595) act 5, sc. 5, l. 112
7.66.28 Richard III
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 1, l. 1
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barbéd steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,— He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them; Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 1, l. 9
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determinéd to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 1, l. 28
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 2, l. 71
Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 2, l. 172
Was ever woman in this humour wooed? Was ever woman in this humour won?
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 2, l. 229
Cannot a plain man live and think no harm, But that his simple truth must be abused By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 3, l. 51
Since every Jack became a gentleman There’s many a gentle person made a Jack.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 3, l. 72
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With odd old ends stol’n forth of holy writ, And seem a saint when most I play the devil.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 3, l. 336
Lord, Lord! methought what pain it was to drown: What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes! Methought I saw a thousand fearful wracks; A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon; Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
Some lay in dead men’s skulls; and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
As ’twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems, That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 4, l. 21
Clarence is come,—false, fleeting, perjured Clarence.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 1, sc. 4, l. 55
Woe to the land that’s governed by a child!
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 2, sc. 3, l. 11.
So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 3, sc. 1, l. 79
My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 3, sc. 4, l. 31
Talk’st thou to me of ‘ifs’? Thou art a traitor: Off with his head!
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 3, sc. 4, l. 74
I am not in the giving vein to-day.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 4, sc. 2, l. 115
The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham’s bosom.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 4, sc. 3, l. 38
Thou cam’st on earth to make the earth my hell. A grievous burden was thy birth to me;
Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;
Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild and furious; Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous; Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody, More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred; What comfortable hour canst thou name
That ever graced me in thy company?
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 4, sc. 4, l. 167
An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 4, sc. 4, l. 359
Harp not on that string.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 4, sc. 4, l. 365
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 2, l. 23
The king’s name is a tower of strength.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 12
Give me another horse! bind up my wounds!
Have mercy, Jesu! Soft! I did but dream.
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 178
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 194
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; And if I die, no soul will pity me:
Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself Find in myself no pity to myself?
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 201
By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night
Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 217
Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 3, l. 310
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 4, l. 7
Slave! I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die.
‘Richard III’ (1591) act 5, sc. 4, l. 9
7.66.29 Romeo And Juliet
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) prologue
The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffick of our stage.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) prologue
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. [50]
I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. [56]
’Tis not hard, I think,
For men so old as we to keep the peace.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 2, l. 2
Paris: Younger than she are happy mothers made. Capulet: And too soon marred are those so early made.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 2, l. 12
And then my husband—God be with his soul! A’ was a merry man—took up the child: ‘Yea,’ quoth he, ‘dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit; Wilt thou not, Jule?’ and, by my halidom,
The pretty wretch left crying, and said ‘Ay’...
Pretty fool, it stinted and said ‘Ay.’
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 3, l. 39
O! then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you...
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep:
Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
The traces, of the smallest spider’s web;
The collars, of the moonshine’s watery beams; Her whip, of cricket’s bone; the lash, of film; Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid; Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coach-makers. And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love; O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on curtsies straight; O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees; O’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses dream; Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are. Sometimes she gallops o’er a courtier’s nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
And sometimes comes she with a tithe-pig’s tail, Tickling a parson’s nose as a’ lies asleep,
Then dreams he of another benefice; Sometimes she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes;
And, being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two, And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night; And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, Which once untangled much misfortune bodes; This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 4, l. 53
You and I are past our dancing days.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [35]
O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [48]
Gentlemen, prepare not to be gone;
We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [125]
My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 1, sc. 5, l. [142]
He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 1
It is my lady; O! it is my love: O! that she knew she were.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 10
See! how she leans her cheek upon her hand: O! that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 23
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 33
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 43
With love’s light wings did I o’er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 66
Thou know’st the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 85
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 88
At lovers’ perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo! If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully: Or if thou think’st I am too quickly won,
I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 92
I’ll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 100
Romeo: Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,—
Juliet: O! swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. Romeo: What shall I swear by?
Juliet: Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 107
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say it lightens. Sweet, good-night! This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 118
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 133
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books; But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 156
Juliet: O! for a falconer’s voice, To lure this tassel-gentle back again.
Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud, Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine, With repetition of my Romeo’s name.
Romeo: It is my soul that calls upon my name: How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears!
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 158
Juliet: ’Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone; And yet no further than a wanton’s bird,
Who lets it hop a little from her hand, Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, And with a silk thread plucks it back again, So loving-jealous of his liberty.
Romeo: I would I were thy bird. Juliet: Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good-night, good-night! parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
Romeo: Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 2, l. 176
One, two, and the third in your bosom.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 4, l. [24]
O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 4, l. [41]
I am the very pink of courtesy.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 4, l. [63]
A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 4, l. [156]
O! so light a foot
Will ne’er wear out the everlasting flint.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 2, sc. 6, l. 16
Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [23]
No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [100]
A plague o’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [112]
O! I am Fortune’s fool.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 3, sc. 1, l. [142]
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging; such a waggoner As Phaethon would whip you to the west, And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night! That runaway’s eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen! Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, Thou sober-suited matron, all in black.
‘Romeo And Juliet’ (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 1
Come, night! come, Romeo! come, thou day in night! For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night,
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night, Give me my Romeo: and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.
