William Shakespeare 1564-1616 King Lear John Bartlett 1919 Familiar Quotations


1
Although the last, not least.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
2
Nothing will come of nothing.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
3
Mend your speech a little, Lest it may mar your fortunes.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
4
I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
5
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue As I am glad I have not.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
6
Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 1.
7
As if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 2.
8
That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 4.
9
Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend!
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 4.
10
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is To have a thankless child!
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 4.



11
Striving to better, oft we mar what ’s well.
King Lear. Act i. Sc. 4.
12
Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element ’s below.
King Lear. Act ii. Sc. 4.
13
Nature in you stands on the very verge Of her confine.
King Lear. Act ii. Sc. 4.
14
Necessity’s sharp pinch!
King Lear. Act ii. Sc. 4.
15
Let not women’s weapons, water-drops, Stain my man’s cheeks!
King Lear. Act ii. Sc. 4.
16
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
17
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
18
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
19
There was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
20
Tremble, thou wretch, That hast within thee undivulged crimes, Unwhipp’d of justice.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
21
I am a man More sinn’d against than sinning.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 2.
22
Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
23
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these?
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
24
Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
25
Out-paramoured the Turk.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
26
’T is a naughty night to swim in.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
27
The green mantle of the standing pool.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
28
But mice and rats, and such small deer, Have been Tom’s food for seven long year.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
29
The prince of darkness is a gentleman. 1
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
30
Poor Tom ’s a-cold.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
31
I ’ll talk a word with this same learned Theban.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
32
Child Rowland to the dark tower came, His word was still,—Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 4.
33
The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 6.
34
Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, Hound or spaniel, brach or lym, Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 6.
35
I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course.
King Lear. Act iii. Sc. 7.
36
The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 1.
37
The worst is not So long as we can say, “This is the worst.”
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 1.
38
Patience and sorrow strove Who should express her goodliest.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 3.
39
Half way down Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: The fishermen that walk upon the beach Appear like mice.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
40
Nature ’s above art in that respect.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
41
Ay, every inch a king.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
42
Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagination.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
43
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
44
Through tatter’d clothes small vices do appear; Robes and furr’d gowns hide all.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.
45
Mine enemy’s dog, Though he had bit me, should have stood that night Against my fire.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 7.
46
Pray you now, forget and forgive.
King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 7.
47
Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, The gods themselves throw incense.
King Lear. Act v. Sc. 3.
48
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to plague us.
King Lear. Act v. Sc. 3.
49
Her voice was ever soft, Gentle, and low,—an excellent thing in woman.
King Lear. Act v. Sc. 3.
50
Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him much That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer.
King Lear. Act v. Sc. 3.

Note 1.
The prince of darkness is a gentleman.—Sir John Suckling: The Goblins. [back]

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