Quotes from Measure for Measure

“Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know. ”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Life... is a paradise to what we fear of death.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“It is excellent / To have a giant's strenght / But it is tyrannous / To use it like a giant

(Isabella)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“But man, proud man,
Dress'd in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“What's his offense?
Groping for trout in a peculiar river.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none:
And some condemned for a fault alone.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strenght, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Thou hast nor youth nor age
But as it were an after dinner sleep
Dreaming of both.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“I'll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe;
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go;
More nor less to others paying
Than by self-offences weighing.
Shame to him whose cruel striking
Kills for faults of his own liking!
Twice treble shame on Angelo,
To weed my vice and let his grow!
O, what may man within him hide,
Though angel on the outward side!
How may likeness made in crimes,
Making practise on the times,
To draw with idle spiders' strings
Most ponderous and substantial things!
Craft against vice I must apply:
With Angelo to-night shall lie
His old betrothed but despised;
So disguise shall, by the disguised,
Pay with falsehood false exacting,
And perform an old contracting.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I have hope to live, and am prepared to die.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope of the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, -
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane, -
A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I've hope to live, and am prepared to die.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Life is better life past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall."
- Angelo, Act 2 Scene 1”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“That in the captain's but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Merely, thou art death's fool,
For him thou labor'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet run'st toward him still.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“What's yet in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid moe thousand deaths; yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

“Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right; we would and we would not.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure

About the author

Popular quotes

“I read somewhere that the New Orleans citizenry bought fewer copies of the New York Times than any other city in the United States, although they made up for it by buying more formal wear than anywhere else. If you’re going out to formal dinners every evening, you don’t get much time to read the New York Times.”
― John Connolly, quote from Every Dead Thing

“MAY IN MINNEAPOLIS IS LILAC TIME. AS IF TO COMPENSATE for the punitive winter, the city explodes with flowers overnight—making it, if only for a week or two, one of the most beautiful places on earth. First there are sunny starbursts of forsythia; then the cherry and dogwood trees burst into life, showering petals everywhere, pink and cream, drifting thick as snow on the sidewalks. But it is the lilacs that truly herald the coming of spring: lavender and white and blue and sometimes a purple deep as grapes, they bloom in the alleys and over backyard fences and in graveyards. Beauty is everywhere, including the most unexpected places. There is no respite from it.”
― Jenna Blum, quote from Those Who Save Us

“A veces, el tiempo cambia las cosas como por arte de magia.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from Wonderstruck

“Don't think about what you could have done, concentrate on what you plan to do; it is more useful.”
― Brian Jacques, quote from Martin the Warrior

“Everyone knows the first rule of business is "Look good during confrontations." Or if it isn't, it should be.”
― Sophie Kinsella, quote from Shopaholic & Baby

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.