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
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