Quotes from The Taming of the Shrew

William Shakespeare ·  291 pages

Rating: (139.4K votes)


“My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Sit by my side, and let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“There's small choice in rotten apples.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.
Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruchio: My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.
Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail.
Katherine: In his tongue.
Petruchio: Whose tongue?
Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.
Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance; commits his body
To painful labor, both by sea and land;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou li’st warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And no obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I asham’d that women are so simple
‘To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“I see a woman may be made a fool,
If she had not a spirit to resist.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“She moves me not, or not removes at least affection's edge in me.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



“Say she rail; why, I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.
Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly wash'd with dew.
Say she be mute and will not speak a word;
Then I'll commend her volubility,
and say she uttereth piercing eloquence.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“If she and I be pleased, what's that to you?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“The poorest service is repaid with thanks.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again,
Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



“We will have rings and things and fine array”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordinance in the field,
And Heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard
Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.
Grumio: For he fears none.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Tis hatched and shall be so”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please.
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Lucentio: I read that I profess, the Art of Love.
Bianca: And may you prove, sir, master of your art!
Lucentio: While you, sweet dear, prove mistress of my heart!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



“Ay, to the proof, as mountains are for winds, that shakes not, though they blow perpetually.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Why, that is nothing: for I tell you, father,
I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
And where two raging fires meet together
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:
So I to her and so she yields to me;
For I am rough and woo not like a babe.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“I am agreed, and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks
As though she bid me stay by her a week.
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“And woo her with some spirit when she comes. Say that she rail; why, then, I'll tell her plain, she sings as sweetly as a nightingail: Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear As morning roses newly washt with dew: Say she be mute and will not speak a word; Then I'll commend her volubility, And say she uttereth piercing eloquence: If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks, As though she bid me stay by her a week: If she deny to be wed, I'll crave the day When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



“Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life, and, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Here is my hand, and here I firmly vow
Never to woo her more, but do forswear her
As one unworthy all the former favors
That I have fondly flattered her withal.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak. 'Tis charity to show.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“(...) too much sadness hath congealed your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew


“Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady. Would 'twere done.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Taming of the Shrew



About the author

William Shakespeare
Born place: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“singing to the radio when you drive”
― Barbara Ann Kipfer, quote from 14,000 Things to Be Happy About


“When your entire world is unraveling, you tend to crave order, and I found it in knitting. In fact, I’ve even read that knitting can lower stress more effectively than meditation.”
― Debbie Macomber, quote from The Shop on Blossom Street


“What was once obvious to them was no longer quite as obvious. Why was it that humans lost sight of truth so quickly?”
― Ted Dekker, quote from Green: The Beginning and the End


“HECUBA: I had a knife in my skirt, Achilles. When Talthybius bent over me, I could have killed him. I wanted to. I had the knife just for that reason. Yet, at the last minute I thought, he's some mother's son just as Hector was, and aren't we women all sisters? If I killed him, I thought, wouldn't It be like killing family?Wouldn't it be making some other mother grieve? So I didn't kill him, but if I had, I might have saved Hector's child. Dead or damned, that's the choice we make. Either you men kill us and are honored for it, or we women kill you and are damned for it. Dead or damned. Women don't have to make choices like that in Hades. There is no love there, nothing to betray.”
― Sheri S. Tepper, quote from The Gate to Women's Country


“It was clear that he didn't remember me from one day to the next. The note clipped to his sleeve simply informed him that it was not our first meeting, but it could not bring back the memory of the time we had spent together.”
― Yōko Ogawa, quote from The Housekeeper and the Professor


Interesting books

Days of War, Nights of Love: Crimethink for Beginners
(1.9K)
Days of War, Nights...
by CrimethInc.
Zelda
(6.4K)
Zelda
by Nancy Milford
Circle of Flight
(3.9K)
Circle of Flight
by John Marsden
Cleopatra: A Life
(78K)
Cleopatra: A Life
by Stacy Schiff
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View Of The Origin Of The Universe
(9.1K)
The First Three Minu...
by Steven Weinberg
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
(15.6K)
One of Our Thursdays...
by Jasper Fforde

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.