Quotes from The Tempest

William Shakespeare ·  215 pages

Rating: (145.3K votes)


“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest



“Now I will believe that there are unicorns...”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“This thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“O, brave new world
that has such people in't!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well. Awake.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest



“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Let us not burthen our remembrance with
A heaviness that's gone.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“I would not wish any companion in the world but you.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Good wombs have borne bad sons."
-- (Miranda, I:2)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is, I know how to curse”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest



“I am your wife if you will marry me.
If not, I'll die your maid. To be your fellow
You may deny me, but I'll be your servant Whether you will or no.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“I long to hear the story of your life, which must captivate the ear strangely.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“...and then, in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches / Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked / I cried to dream again.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Watch out he's winding the watch of his wit, by and by it will strike.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest



“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm’d
The noontide sun, call’d forth the mutinous winds,
And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove’s stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck’d up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of our generation you shall find.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in it!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


“Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
Curtsied when you have and kissed
The wild waves whist,
Foot is featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.

Ariel's song, scene II, Act I”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest



“This rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Tempest


About the author

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

Popular quotes

“Certain of misfire, my heart threatens to stop.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Fallout


“I took a train to Liverpool. they were having a festival when I arrived. Citizens had taken time off from their busy activities to add crisp packets, empty cigarette boxes and carrier-bags to the other wise bland and neglected landscape.”
― Bill Bryson, quote from Notes from a Small Island


“I guess maybe I don't want to be warm and safe. I want to live.”
― Eowyn Ivey, quote from The Snow Child


“I would court you, with all the grace and courtesy that you deserve,”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Kings Rising


“He leaned closer. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Your face is absolutely adorable when you blush.”

My ears burned. Oh great, am I the color of a tomato now?

“Yeah, well, I can make you blush,” I retorted. “By telling you how hot you are, and that when that little piece of black hair falls into your eyes, it’s so sexy it makes me forget my words, and...” I stopped, suddenly aware of how warm the mausoleum was.

“Go on,” Caspian prodded, shaking his head so that his hair covered one green eye. I blushed again, and glanced around me, slowly backing away from him. I just needed some... space to clear my head. He followed me, stalking my every move. My blood felt like pure oxygen racing through my veins, fizzy and bubbling and making me want to float away. A hard wall at my back stopped me, but Caspian kept coming. I thought desperately of some way to change the subject.

“I got you Moby-Dick,” I blurted out. He gave me a sly smile.
“Mmmm, did you? How... interesting.”
“And Treasure Island, and The Count of Monte Cristo.” I babbled on. “I thought you might like some boy books.” He stopped an inch away from me. I felt like I was his prisoner.

“Let’s go back to the sexy and hot thing,” Caspian said. “Could we add a gorgeous or mysterious in there, too?”
I gulped. “Like you don’t already know you’re all of those things. You probably had girls falling all over you before.”

Caspian cocked his head to one side. “True. But I always thought it was because I was the quiet new guy. And besides, there’s only one person I was ever really interested in.”

“Was?” I squeaked. Then I cleared my throat and tried again. “I mean—”
“Am,” Caspian corrected himself. “Technically, I guess it’s both. I was interested the first day I saw her, and I still am interested in her.”

His eyes glowed in the soft candlelight around us, and every last ounce of coherent thought left me.

“It’s... um... really. It’s...” My head felt like it was thickening and my body was overheating, every word dragged from somewhere in the depths of my fuzzy brain.
I waved a hand in front of my face to fan myself, and finally spit out what I was trying to say. “It’s hot in here. Don’t you think? It’s really warm.”

“I only feel warmth when I’m standing next to you,” Caspian said. He stepped half an inch closer. “Like right now.”
― Jessica Verday, quote from The Haunted


Interesting books

Broken Silence
(13.9K)
Broken Silence
by Natasha Preston
Fuzzy Nation
(20.6K)
Fuzzy Nation
by John Scalzi
Geek Girl
(5.1K)
Geek Girl
by Cindy C. Bennett
The Forgotten Highlander: My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East
(1.6K)
The Forgotten Highla...
by Alistair Urquhart
The Golden Bough
(6.9K)
The Golden Bough
by James George Frazer
The Lantern Bearers
(1.8K)
The Lantern Bearers
by Rosemary Sutcliff

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.