William Shakespeare 1564-1616 King Rihard II John Bartlett 1919 Familiar Quotations


1
Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 1.
2
In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 1.
3
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.
4
Truth hath a quiet breast.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.
5
All places that the eye of heaven visits Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.
6
O, who can hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat? O, no! the apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.
King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.
7
The tongues of dying men Enforce attention like deep harmony.
King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.
8
The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past.
King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.
9
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,— This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.
10
The ripest fruit first falls.
King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.



11
Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor.
King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 3.
12
Eating the bitter bread of banishment.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 1.
13
Fires the proud tops of the eastern pines.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
14
Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm off from an anointed king.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
15
O, call back yesterday, bid time return!
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
16
Let ’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
17
And nothing can we call our own but death And that small model of the barren earth Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
18
Comes at the last, and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall—and farewell king!
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 2.
19
He is come to open The purple testament of bleeding war.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 3.
20
And my large kingdom for a little grave, A little little grave, an obscure grave.
King Richard II. Act iii. Sc. 3.
21
Gave His body to that pleasant country’s earth, And his pure soul unto his captain Christ, Under whose colours he had fought so long.
King Richard II. Act iv. Sc. 1.
22
A mockery king of snow.
King Richard II. Act iv. Sc. 1.
23
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.
King Richard II. Act v. Sc. 2.
24
As for a camel To thread the postern of a small needle’s eye. 1
King Richard II. Act v. Sc. 5.

Note 1.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.—Matthew. xix. 24. [back]

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