Mean Shakespeare Quotes

Category: Dark & Bitter

November 15

Temptations

The strongest oaths are straw
To the fire i’ the blood.

–The Tempest,
Act IV, Scene i
November 7

Exposed

His treasons will sit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.

–Richard II,
Act III, Scene ii
November 3

The World Is Full of Knaves

There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.

–Hamlet,
Act I, Scene v
October 30

Devil’s Night

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

—-The Tempest,
Act I, Scene ii
October 27

Just Because You Could

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make deeds ill done!…
And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.

–King John,
Act IV, Scene ii
October 23

Harsh World

…this is no world
To play with mammets and to tilt with lips:
We must have bloody noses and crack’d crowns,
And pass them current too.

–Henry IV Part 1,
Act II, Scene iii
October 19

Greed

The great ones eat up the
little ones: I can compare our rich misers to
nothing so fitly as to a whale; a’ plays and
tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at
last devours them all at a mouthful: such whales
have I heard on o’ the land, who never leave gaping
till they’ve swallowed the whole parish, church,
steeple, bells, and all.

––Pericles,
Act II, Scene 1