William Shakespeare 1564-1616 King Henry VIII John Bartlett 1919 Familiar Quotations


1
Order gave each thing view.
King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.
2
No man’s pie is freed From his ambitious finger.
King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.
3
Anger is like A full-hot horse, who being allow’d his way, Self-mettle tires him.
King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.
4
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot That it do singe yourself.
King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 1.
5
’T is but the fate of place, and the rough brake That virtue must go through.
King Henry VIII. Act i. Sc. 2.
6
The mirror of all courtesy.
King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 1.
7
This bold bad man. 1
King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 2.
8
’T is better to be lowly born, And range with humble livers in content, Than to be perked up in a glistering grief, And wear a golden sorrow.
King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 3.
9
Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves when he did sing.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 1.
10
’T is well said again, And ’t is a kind of good deed to say well: And yet words are no deeds.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.



11
And then to breakfast with What appetite you have.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
12
I have touched the highest point of all my greatness; And from that full meridian of my glory I haste now to my setting: I shall fall Like a bright exhalation in the evening, And no man see me more.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
13
Press not a falling man too far!
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
14
Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory, But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride At length broke under me and now has left me, Weary and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me. Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye: I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours! There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, More pangs and fears than wars or women have: And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
15
A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
16
A load would sink a navy.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
17
And sleep in dull cold marble.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
18
Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
19
I charge thee, fling away ambition: By that sin fell the angels.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
20
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s; then if thou fall’st, O Cromwell, Thou fall’st a blessed martyr!
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
21
Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies.
King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2.
22
A royal train, believe me.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 1.
23
An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye: Give him a little earth for charity!
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
24
He gave his honours to the world again, His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
25
So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him!
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
26
He was a man Of an unbounded stomach.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
27
Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water. 2
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
28
He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one; Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading; Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
29
Yet in bestowing, madam, He was most princely.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
30
After my death I wish no other herald, No other speaker of my living actions, To keep mine honour from corruption, But such an honest chronicler as Griffith.
King Henry VIII. Act iv. Sc. 2.
31
To dance attendance on their lordships’ pleasures.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 2.
32
’T is a cruelty To load a falling man.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 3. 3
33
You were ever good at sudden commendations.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 3. 4
34
I come not To hear such flattery now, and in my presence.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 3. 5
35
They are too thin and bare to hide offences.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 3. 6
36
Those about her From her shall read the perfect ways of honour.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 5. 7
37
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, His honour and the greatness of his name Shall be, and make new nations.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 5.
38
A most unspotted lily shall she pass To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.
King Henry VIII. Act v. Sc. 5.

Note 1.
See Spenser, Quotation 5. [back]

Note 2.
For men use, if they have an evil tourne, to write it in marble; and whoso doth us a good tourne we write it in duste.—Sir Thomas More: Richard III. and his miserable End.

All your better deeds
Shall be in water writ, but this in marble.
Beaumont and Fletcher: Philaster, act v. sc. 3.

L’injure se grave en métal; et le bienfait s’escrit en l’onde.
(An injury graves itself in metal, but a benefit writes itself in water.)
Jean Bertaut. Circa 1611. [back]

Note 3.
Act v. Sc. 2 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White. [back]

Note 4.
Act v. Sc. 2 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White. [back]

Note 5.
Act v. Sc. 4 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White. [back]

Note 6.
Act v. Sc. 2 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White. [back]

Note 7.
Act v. Sc. 4 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White. [back]

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