| Act 1, Scene 5 (Lady Macbeth is preparing to welcome Duncan to her castle, and is preparing to murder him.) | Come you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! […] Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall. |
| Act 1, Scene 5 (Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he is to hide how obvious the intentions of the couple are) | Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t. |
| Act 1, Scene 7 (She’s mocking Macbeth’s manhood for wanting to turn back on the idea of killing Duncan.) | What beast was’t then That made you break your enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man. And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. |
| Act 1, Scene 7 (Macbeth had just asked what would happen if they failed.) | We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. |
| Act 1, Scene 7 (Referring to the drunk guards.) | What cannot you and I perform upon Th’unguarded Duncan? When not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell? |
| Act 2, Scene 2 (“He can’t have failed, I made it so obvious and easy for him!”) | Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, And ’tis not done […] I laid their daggers ready, he could not miss ’em. Had he not resembles My father as he slept, I had done’t. |
| Act 2, Scene 2 (Lady Macbeth is annoyed that Macbeth has started falling into madness as a result of the murder) | Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers […] If he do bleed, I’ll guild the faces of the grooms withal For it must seem their guilt. |
| Act 2, Scene 2 (She is mocking him for going mad about the murder) | My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white. |
| Act 3, Scene 1 (Lady Macbeth has got what she wanted, but doesn’t feel happy about it. It was safer to be who they killed than to be in ‘doubtful joy’ as a result of their own destruction.) | Nought’s had, all is spent Where our desire is got without content. ‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. |
| Act 3, Scene 1 (Lady Macbeth is talking to Macbeth about the madness he’s experiencing. This is in stark contrast to her state of mind towards the end of the play.) | Things without all remedy Should be without regards; what’s done, is done. |
| Act 3, Scene 4 | O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear; This is the air-drawn dagger which you said Led you to Duncan […] Shame itself! Why do you make such face? When all’s done, You look but on a stool. |
| Act 5 Scene 1 | Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One, two. Why then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fir, a soldier, and afeard? […] Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him? |
| Act 5 Scene 1 | The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more o’that, my lord, no more o’that. You mar with this starting. |
| Act 5, Scene 3 (This is the doctor talking about Lady Macbeth and what’s causing her madness.) | Not so sick, my lord, As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies That keep her from her rest. There in the patient must minister to himself. |
Lady Macbeth Quotes
September 6, 2019