Quotes from Richard III

William Shakespeare ·  414 pages

Rating: (36.8K votes)


“Dispute not with her: she is lunatic.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“And therefore, — since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days, —
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III



“What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! Alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.
Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter:
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, “Guilty! guilty!”
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me,
And if I die no soul will pity me.
And wherefore should they, since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“I have set my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“In thy foul throat thou liest.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Now is the winter of our discontent.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III



“Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe:
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.
March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell;
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end;
Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree;
Murder, stern murder in the dir'st degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, 'Guilty!, guilty!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Shine out fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III



“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“I'll not meddle with it. It makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbor's wife but it detects him. 'Tis a blushing, shamefaced spirit that mutinies in a man's bosom. It fills a man full of obstacles. It made me once restore a purse of gold that by chance I found. It beggars any man that keeps it. It is turned out of towns and cities for a dangerous thing, and every man that means to live well endeavors to trust to himself and live without it.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Bad is the world, and all will come to naught
when such ill-dealing must be seen in thought.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Tush!
Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate;
Talkers are no good doers: be assured
We come to use our hands and not our tongues.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“The world is grown so bad that wrens make pray where eagles dare not perch”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III



“But then I sigh, with a piece of Scripture
Tell them that God bids us to do evil for good;
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With odd old ends stolen out of Holy Writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Tis better, sir, to be brief than tedious.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Short summers lightly have a forward spring.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes,
That I, being governed by the watery moon,
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III



“Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


“Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III


About the author

William Shakespeare
Born place: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom
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