Quotation Archive

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All's Well that Ends Well
Here is a purr of fortune's, sir,
or of fortune's cat

Antony and Cleopatra
Like the stag
when snow the pasture sheets,
the barks of trees thou browsed'st

As You Like It
A snail;
for though he comes slowly,
he carries his house on his head

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Come, the croaking raven
doth bellow for revenge

Do you see yonder cloud
that's almost in shape of a camel?

Well said, old mole!
Canst work i'th' earth so fast?

Henry IV
No more truth in thee
than in a drawn fox

Passions, like a whale on ground,
confound themselves with working

Henry VI
I can add colours
to the chameleon

Their softest touch
as smart as lizards' sting!

The mournful crocodile
with sorrow
snares relenting passengers

Julius Caesar
Unicorns may be
betrayed with trees

It is the bright day
that brings forth the adder

King Lear
Laugh at gilded butterflies,
and hear poor rogues

Love's Labour's Lost
A lover's eyes
will gaze an eagle blind

What's your dark meaning, mouse,
of this light word?

Anon falleth like a crab
on the face of terra, the soil,
the land, the earth

What,
that an eel is ingenious?

Macbeth
The shard-borne beetle,
with his drowsy hums,
hath rung night's yawning peal

On Tuesday last, a falcon,
towering in her pride of place

Measure for Measure
An angry ape
plays such fantastic tricks

The Merchant of Venice
Would be thought
no better a musician
than the wren

That will evermore peep through their eyes,
and laugh like parrots at a bag-piper

A Midsummer Night's Dream
As true as truest horse,
that yet would never tire

Much Ado About Nothing
Never answer a calf
when he bleats

The Passionate Pilgrim
Mild as a dove,
but neither true nor trusty

Pericles
a baboon, could he speak,
Would own a name too dear

The Rape of Lucrece
And I, a drone-like bee,
have no perfection of my summer left

Richard III
That bottled spider,
whose deadly web ensnareth thee about

The Tempest
On the bat’s back I do fly
after summer merrily

We shall lose our time,
and all be turn'd to barnacles

He smells like a fish:
a very ancient and fish-like smell

The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus
How would he hang his slender gilded wings
and buzz lamenting doings in the air!

all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white

Many urchins, would make
such fearful and confused cries

Troilus and Cressida
More annoyance by the breeze
than by the tiger

The elephant hath joints,
but none for courtesy

Two Gentlemen of Verona
Indeed a sheep
doth very often stray

To relish a love-song,
like a robin-redbreast

Two Noble Kinsmen
Would I could find a fine frog!
He would tell me news from all parts o’ th’ world

Venus and Adonis
The owl, night's herald,
shrieks: 'tis very late

The Winter's Tale
I will tell it softly;
yond crickets shall not hear it