“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“For she had eyes and chose me.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Men in rage strike those that wish them best.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.(Iago, Act II, scene iii)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I lov'd her that she did pity them”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Iago”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens to the which our wills are gardeners.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Men should be what they seem.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
(Act 3, scene 3, 165–171)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Tis within ourselves that we are thus or thus”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“It is silliness to live when to live is torment, and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Thou weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“I hold my peace, sir? no;
No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“And his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all. ”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme. . .”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Drown thyself? Drown cats and blind puppies.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“what cannot be saved when fate takes, patience her injury a mockery makes”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“And what’s he then that says I play the villain?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!" - Cassio (Act II, Scene iii)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Othello
“Independence & self-reliance had no cultural purchase; indeed, they could scarcely be conceived, let alone prized...The best course was humbly to accept the identity to which destiny assigned you: the ploughman needed only to know how to plough, the weaver to weave, the monk to pray.”
― Stephen Greenblatt, quote from The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
“And yet I think I now understand the impulse which drives men to shoot bears. It isn't for the pelt or the meat or the sport - or not only those things. I think they need to do it. They need to kill that great Arctic totem to give them some sense of control over the wilderness - even if that is only an illusion.”
― Michelle Paver, quote from Dark Matter
“The sexual mechanisms of the two genders are just not compatible, that’s the horrible truth of it. (...)
This is a truth we dare not acknowledge these days - because sameness is our religion and heretics are no more welcome now than they ever were - but I’m going to acknowledge it, because I’ve always felt that humility before the facts is the only thing that keeps a rational man together. Be humble in the face of facts, and proud in the face of opinions, as George Bernard Shaw once said.
He didn’t, actually. I just wanted to put some authority behind this observation of mine, because I know you’re not going to like it.”
― Hugh Laurie, quote from The Gun Seller
“I came from rainbow fabric; I drank textile ink as mothers’ milk. I learned to sew before I could walk. I could never become a nun, purely because of the boring fashion choices.”
― Pepper Winters, quote from Debt Inheritance
“La verità è che la maggior parte della gente, non esclusi i poliziotti, si fida troppo di questo mondo perverso. Crede troppo a quanto viene loro raccontato. Io no. Mi dispiace, ma io voglio sempre rendermi conto personalmente delle cose.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library
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.