“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Act 3, Scene 2”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“You may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“This royal throne of kings, this sceptered 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.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again: and by and by
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Keep time! How sour sweet music is when time is broke and no proportion kept! So is it in the music of men's lives. I wasted time and now doth time waste me.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth,
Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
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;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
My scepter for a palmer's walking staff
My subjects for a pair of carved saints
and my large kingdom for a little grave.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Mine honor is my life; both grow in one.
Take honor from me, and my life is done.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“For sorrow ends not, when it seemeth done.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“My dear, dear Lord,
The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away
Men are but gilded loan or painted clay...
Mine honor is my life; both grow in one;
Take honor from me, and my life is done.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“No deeper wrinkles yet?
Hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine
And made no deeper wounds?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed King;”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Each substance of a grief has twenty shadows.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Discharge my followers; let them hence away,
From Richard's night to Bolingbrooke's fair day.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“The shadow of my sorrow. Let's see, 'tis very true. My griefs lie all within and these external manners of laments are mere shadows to the unseen grief which swells with silence in the tortured soul.
There lies the substance.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“I hate the murderer, love him murdered.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numb'ring clock;
My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“I'll read enough
When I do see the very book indeed
Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.
Give me that glass and therein will I read.
No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine
And made no deeper wounds?
O flattering glass,
Like to my followers in prosperity
Thou dost beguile me!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal the mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before:
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”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“O that I were a mockery king of snow
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke
To melt myself away in water drops!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“My grief lies all within; and these external manner of laments are merely shadows of the unseen grief that swells with silence in the tortur'd soul.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
“L'amor d'homes dolents es converteix en por;
la por en odi, i l'odi fa que l'un, o bé tots dos,
esdevinguin perill d'una mort merescuda.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard II
William Shakespeare
Born place: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom
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“Adam was beginning to realize that he hadn't known Ronan at all. Or rather, he had known part of him and assumed it was all of him.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, quote from Blue Lily, Lily Blue
“Satan is an eternal being, like God. He may not know all things as God does or have God’s power, but he knows our weaknesses even better than we do. He knows us intimately. He knows the evil desires of our heart and mind. He knows where and when to attack to gain the best advantage. Satan schemes and plays upon those things in order to separate us from God and bring about our destruction. Never underestimate him. Without our armor, we’re vulnerable.” Atretes”
― Francine Rivers, quote from Mark of the Lion Trilogy
“I finally said it. The actual words, out loud, to her face. It was a relief, not carrying it around anymore, and it was a rush, actually telling her. I was in an elated sort of daze, on a high. She loved me. I didn’t need to hear her say it out loud, I knew it innately in the way she looked at me just then.
Conrad Fisher”
― Jenny Han, quote from We'll Always Have Summer
“Tell me, Cameron Ann Morgan, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Alive.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy
“By far the largest single organisms that ever lived are plants, and an impressive percentage of the world’s biomass is locked up in plants. [...] The surface of the land is green because of plants, and the surface of the sea would be green too if its floating carpet of photosynthesisers were macroscopic plants instead of microorganisms too small to reflect noticeable quantities of green light. It is as though plants are going out of their way to cover every square centimetre with green, leaving none uncovered. And that is pretty much what they are doing […] From a plant’s point of view, a square centimetre of the Earth’s surface that is anything but green amounts to a negligently wasted opportunity to sweep up photons.”
― Richard Dawkins, quote from The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
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The Transit of VenusBookQuoters 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.
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