King Lear Quotes

Quote 1: "[T]here was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?" Act 1, Scene 1, lines 21-24

Quote 2: "And here are to be answered. Tell me, my daughters-/Since now we will divest us, both of rule/Interest of territory, cares of state-/Which of you shall we say doth love us most?" Act 1, Scene 1, lines 48-51

Quote 3: "Lear: Speak.
Cordelia: Nothing, my lord.
Lear: Nothing?
Cordelia: Nothing.
Lear: Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again." Act 1, Scene 1, lines 87-91

Quote 4: "Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, loved me; I/Return those duties back as are right fit/ Obey you, love you, and most honor you./ Why have my sisters' husbands, if they say/ They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,/ That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry/ Half my love with him, half my care and duty./ Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,/ To love my father all." Act 1, Scene 1, lines 95-104

Quote 5: "By all the operation of the orbs/ From whom we do exist and cease to be;/ Here I disclaim all my paternal care,/ Propinquity and property of blood,/ And as a stranger to my heart and me/ Hold thee, from this, for ever." Act 1, Scene 1, lines 111-116

Quote 6: "Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law/ My services are bound. Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom, and permit/ The curiosity of nations to deprive me,/ For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines/ Lag of a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base?" Act 1, Scene 2, lines 1-6

Quote 7: "That lord that counseled thee/ To give away they land,/ Come place him here by me,/ Do thou for him stand:/ The sweet and bitter fool/ Will presently appear;/ The one in motley here,/ The other found out there." Act 1, Scene 4, lines 138-145

Quote 8: "I heard myself proclaimed;/ And by the happy hollow of a tree/ escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place/ That guard, and most unusual vigilance/ Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape/ I will preserve myself; and am bethought/ To take the basest and most poorest shape/ That ever penury, in contempt of man/ Brought near to beast." Act 2, Scene 3, lines 1-9

Quote 9: "The to-and-fro conflicting wind and rain./ This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,/ The lion and the belly-pinched wolf/ Keep their fur dry, un bonneted he runs,/ And bids what will take all." Act 3, Scene 1, lines 11-15

Quote 10: "Marry, here's grace and a cod-piece; that's a wise man and a fool." Act 3, Scene 2, lines 40-41

Quote 11: "'Good my lord, enter here.'
'Will it break my heart?'
'I had rather break mine own.'" Act 3, Scene 4, lines 4-5

Quote 12: "Prithee, go in thyself; seek thine own ease./ This tempest will not give me leave to ponder/ On things would hurt me more. But I'll go in./ In boy; go in first. You houseless poverty-/ Nay, get thee in. I'll pray and then I'll sleep." Act 3, Scene 4, lines 23-27

Quote 13: "How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,/ Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you/ From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en/ Too little care of this! Take physic pomp,/ Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel." Act 3, Scene 4, lines 30-34

Quote 14: "Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies. Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, that cat no perfume. Ha! Here's three on's are sophisticated! Thou art the thing itself, unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come unbutton here." Act 3, Scene 4, lines 98-105

Quote 15: "Poor Tom, that eats the swimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt and the water, that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets, swallows the old rat and the ditch-dog, drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is whipped from tithing to tithing and stock-punished, and imprisoned; who hath had three suits to his back, six shirts to his body,/ horse to ride and weapon to wear;/ But mice and rats, and such small deer,/ Have been Tom's food for seven long year." Act 3, Scene 4, lines 123-133

Quote 16: "See 't shall thou never. Fellows, hold the chair./ Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot." Act 3, Scene 7, lines 66-67

Quote 17: "I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw." Act 4, Scene 1, lines 18-19.

Quote 18: "O gods! Who is't can say 'I am the worst'?/ I am worse than e'er I was...And worse I may be yet: the worst is not/ So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'" Act 4, Scene 1, lines 23-27

Quote 19: "All blest secrets,/ All you unpublished virtues of the earth,/ Spring with my tears! Be aidant and remediate/ In the good man's distress! Seek, seek for him;/ Lest his ungoverned rage dissolve the life/ That wants the means to lead it." Act 4, Scene 4, lines 15-20

Quote 20: "So may it be, indeed./ Methinks thy voice is altered, and thou speakest/ In better phrase and matter than thou didst." Act 4, Scene 6, lines 6-8

Quote 21: "Aye, every inch a king." Act 4, Scene 6, line 107

Quote 22: "To both these sisters have I sworn my love;/ Each jealous of the other, as the stung/ Are of the adder. Which of them shall I take?/ Both? One? Neither? Neither can be enjoyed,/ If both remain alive." Act 5, Scene 1, lines 55-59

Quote 23: "No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison,/ We two alone will sing like birds in the cage." Act 5, Scene 3, lines 8-9

Quote 24: "Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones;/ Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so/ That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone forever!/ I know when one is dead, and when one lives;/ She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking glass;/ If that her breath will mist of stain the stone,/ Why, then she lives." Act 5, Scene 3, lines 255-261

Quote 25: "Kent: 'Is this the promised end?'
Edgar: 'Or image of that horror?'" Act 5, Scene 3, lines 261-262

Quote 26: "You lords and noble friends, know our intent./ What comfort to this great decay may come/ Shall be applied. For us, we will resign,/ During the life of this old majesty,/ To him our absolute power; you, to your rights." Act 5, Scene 3, lines 294-298

Quote 27: "And my poor foll is hanged! No, no, no life!/ Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,/ And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,/ Never, never, never, never, never!/ Pray you, undo this button. Thank you sir./ Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,/ Look there, look there!" Act 5, Scene 3, lines 303-309