Quotes from Titus Andronicus

William Shakespeare ·  320 pages

Rating: (19.6K votes)


“Demetrius: Villain, what hast thou done?
Aaron: That which thou canst not undo.
Chiron: Thou hast undone our mother.
Aaron: Villain, I have done thy mother.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“LUCIUS. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?

AARON. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day- and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse-
Wherein I did not some notorious ill;
As kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' door
Even when their sorrows almost was forgot,
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters
'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.'
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly;
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,—
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death,
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it,
Accuse some innocent and forswear myself,
Set deadly enmity between two friends,
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.'
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus



“O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
I should repent the evils I have done:
Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did
Would I perform, if I might have my will;
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Tam: What begg’st thou then? fond woman, let me go.
Lav: ’Tis present death I beg; and one thing more That womanhood denies my tongue to tell.
O! keep me from their worse than killing lust,
And tumble me into some loathsome pit,
Where never man’s eye may behold my body:
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.
Tam: So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee:
No, let them satisfy their lust on thee.
Dem: Away! for thou hast stay’d us here too long.
Lav: No grace! no womanhood! Ah, beastly creature,
The blot and enemy to our general name.
Confusion fall—”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“But, soft! methinks I do digress too much,”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Come and take choice of all my library and so beguile thy sorrow.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it scorns to bear another hue;
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus



“O, why should nature build so foul a den, Unless the gods delight in tragedies?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“I'll find a day to massacre them all
And raze their faction and their family,
The cruel father and his traitorous sons,
To whom I sued for my dear son's life,
And make them know what 'tis to let a queen
Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Hark, villains! I will grind your bones to dust. (Act V, Scene 2, 2503)”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“MARCUS ANDRONICUS: Now is a time to storm; why art thou still?

TITUS ANDRONICUS: Ha, ha, ha!

MARCUS ANDRONICUS: Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour.

TITUS ANDRONICUS: Why, I have not another tear to shed:”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“In peace and honour rest you here, my sons;
Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no damned grudges; here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus



“LUCIUS
... the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.

TITUS ANDRONICUS
O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“TITUS. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“Why makes thou it so strange? She is a woman, therefore may be wooed; She is a woman, therefore may be won; She is Lavinia , therefore must be loved.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“My mistress is my mistress, this myself.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus


“За час грозы затопятся луга, —
За годы слез что станется с глазами?
Останься, будем вместе слезы лить,
Когда бы стон мог горе облегчить!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Titus Andronicus



About the author

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

Popular quotes

“In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere — "Bibles laid open, millions of surprises," as Herbert says, "fine nets and stratagems." God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.”
― C.S. Lewis, quote from Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life


“You got up, and you did something. And if trying to find a way when you don't even know you can get there isn't a small miracle; then I don't know what is.”
― Rachel Joyce, quote from The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry


“He handed me a letter. I unfolded it and read:

Dear Mr Spratt,

It has come to our attention that you may be attempting to give up the booze and reconcile with your wife. While we approve of this as a plot device to generate more friction and inner conflicts, we most strongly advise you not to carry it through to a happy reconciliation, as this would put you in direct contravention of Rule 11C of the Union of Sad Loner Detective’s Code, as ratified by the Union of Literary Detectives, and it will ultimately result in your expulsion from the association with subsequent loss of benefits. I trust you will do the decent thing and halt this damaging and abnormal behaviour before it leads to your downfall.

PS. Despite repeated demands, you have failed to drive a classic car or pursue an unusual hobby. Please do so at once or face the consequences.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from The Well of Lost Plots


“Kate, don't be like that. You know I only did so well because I yearn-see, SAT word- to follow you to college and steal your heart."
"Uh-huh. Too bad for you I don't plan on attending clown college."
He grinned. "Only you would ignore the incredibly sweet thing I just said."
"Only you would describe one of your asinine comments as incredibly sweet.”
― Elizabeth Scott, quote from Perfect You


“for laughter is the perfect medicine for the tortured heart, the balm for misery,”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Life Expectancy


Interesting books

Frenchman's Creek
(9.9K)
Frenchman's Creek
by Daphne du Maurier
Devil in Winter
(45.4K)
Devil in Winter
by Lisa Kleypas
Last Chance to See
(16.5K)
Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams
The Secret of Ella and Micha
(66.9K)
The Secret of Ella a...
by Jessica Sorensen
The Nicomachean Ethics
(27K)
The Nicomachean Ethi...
by Aristotle
Every Dead Thing
(17.7K)
Every Dead Thing
by John Connolly

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.