Macbeth Quotes

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:Hover through the fog and filthy air. the witches; they decide to go and meet macbeth; All that is good, “fair,” to others is evil, “foul,” to them, and vice versa. This applies to both the physical and the moral world; they revel in the “fog and filthy air,” and in every sort of mischief and evil-doing from killing swine to entrapping human souls.
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! the witches; they are gathered to tell Macbeth and Banquo their fates; He is currently the thane of Glamis, then becomes appointed by Duncan to the position of thane of cawdor, and then he will become king.
But ’tis strange:And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,The instruments of darkness tell us truths,Win us with honest trifles, to betray’sIn deepest consequence. Banquo; after hearing his and Macbeth’s fates from the witches; But this whole thing is strange. The agents of evil often tell us part of the truth in order to lead us to our destruction. They earn our trust by telling us the truth about little things, but then they betray us when it will damage us the most.
nothing in his lifeBecame him like the leaving it; he diedAs one that had been studied in his deathTo throw away the dearest thing he owed,As ’twere a careless trifle. Malcom, talking to Duncan about the execution of the thane of cawdor; He never did anything in his whole life that looked as good as the way he died. He died like someone who had practiced how to toss away his most cherished possession as if it were a worthless a piece of garbage.
There’s no artTo find the mind’s construction in the face:He was a gentleman on whom I builtAn absolute trust. Duncan; Duncan is about to arrive at Macbeth’s castle; There’s no way to read a man’s mind by looking at his face. I trusted Cawdor completely.
The prince of Cumberland! That is a stepOn which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.The eye wink at the hand, yet let that beWhich the eye fears, when it is done, to see. Macbeth; aside while talking to Duncan; Malcolm is now the prince of Cumberland! To become king myself, I’m either going to have to step over him or give up, because he’s in my way. Stars, hide your light so no one can see the terrible desires within me. I won’t let my eye look at what my hand is doing, but in the end I’m still going to do that thing I’d be horrified to see.
yet do I fear thy nature;It is too full o’ the milk of human kindnessTo catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;Art not without ambition, but withoutThe illness should attend it Lady Macbeth; reading the letter from Macbeth; But I worry about whether or not you have what it takes to seize the crown. You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first opportunity. You want to be powerful, and you don’t lack ambition, but you don’t have the mean streak that these things call for.
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere wellIt were done quickly: if the assassinationCould trammel up the consequence, and catchWith his surcease success; that but this blowMight be the be-all and the end-all here,But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,We’ld jump the life to come. But in these casesWe still have judgment here; that we but teachBloody instructions, which, being taught, returnTo plague the inventor Macbeth; soliloquy; If this business would really be finished when I did the deed, then it would be best to get it over with quickly. If the assassination of the king could work like a net, sweeping up everything and preventing any consequences, then the murder would be the be-all and end-all of the whole affair, and I would gladly put my soul and the afterlife at risk to do it. But for crimes like these there are still punishments in this world. By committing violent crimes we only teach other people to commit violence, and the violence of our students will come back to plague us teachers.
Art thou afeardTo be the same in thine own act and valourAs thou art in desire? Lady Macbeth; trying to convince Macbeth to commit the murder; Are you afraid to act the way you desire? Will you take the crown you want so badly, or will you live as a coward, always saying “I can’t” after you say “I want to”?
Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?I see thee yet, in form as palpableAs this which now I draw. Macbeth; hallucinations of a bloody dagger; Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? (to the dagger) Come, let me hold you. (he grabs at the air in front of him without touching anything) I don’t have you but I can still see you. Fateful apparition, isn’t it possible to touch you as well as see you? Or are you nothing more than a dagger created by the mind, a hallucination from my fevered brain? I can still see you, and you look as real as this other dagger that I’m pulling out now.
`Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep’ … Macbeth shall sleep no more.’ Macbeth; talking with Lady Macbeth; I thought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth is murdering sleep.” “Macbeth has murdered sleep, and therefore Macbeth will sleep no more.”
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No, this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas in incarnadine,Making the green one red. Macbeth; after having just killed Duncan; Will all the water in the ocean wash this blood from my hands? No, instead my hands will stain the seas scarlet, turning the green waters red.
To be thus is nothing;But to be safely thus.–Our fears in BanquoStick deep; and in his royalty of natureReigns that which would be fear’d: ’tis much he dares;And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valourTo act in safety. There is none but heWhose being I do fear: and, under him,My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said,Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. Macbeth; after Banquo leaves and the murderers enter; To be the king is nothing if I’m not safe as the king. I’m very afraid of Banquo. There’s something noble about him that makes me fear him. He’s willing to take risks, and his mind never stops working. He has the wisdom to act bravely but also safely. I’m not afraid of anyone but him. Around him, my guardian angel is frightened, just as Mark Antony’s angel supposedly feared Octavius Caesar.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,No son of mine succeeding. If ‘t be so,For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;Put rancours in the vessel of my peaceOnly for them; and mine eternal jewelGiven to the common enemy of man,To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!Rather than so, come fate into the list.And champion me to the utterance! Macbeth; after Banquo leaves and before the murderers enter; They gave me a crown and a scepter that I can’t pass on. Someone outside my family will take these things away from me, since no son of mine will take my place as king. If this is true, then I’ve tortured my conscience and murdered the gracious Duncan for Banquo’s sons. I’ve ruined my own peace for their benefit. I’ve handed over my everlasting soul to the devil so that they could be kings. Banquo’s sons, kings! Instead of watching that happen, I will challenge fate to battle and fight to the death.
Nought’s had, all’s spent,Where our desire is got without content:’Tis safer to be that which we destroyThan by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Lady Macbeth; soliloquy before she asks Macbeth why he seems so sad; If you get what you want and you’re still not happy, you’ve spent everything and gained nothing. It’s better to be the person who gets murdered than to be the killer and be tormented with anxiety.
I am in bloodStepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o’er:Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d. Macbeth; after his hallucination spell at the dinner; I have walked so far into this river of blood that even if I stopped now, it would be as hard to go back to being good as it is to keep killing people. I have some schemes in my head that I’m planning to put into action. I have to do these things before I have a chance to think about them.
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,The arm’d rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;Take any shape but that, and my firm nervesShall never tremble Macbeth; he sees the ghost of Banquo; Come at me in the form of a rugged Russian bear, an armor-plated rhinoceros, or a tiger from Iran. Take any shape other than the one you have now and I will never tremble in fear.
As by the strength of their illusionShall draw him on to his confusion:He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bearHe hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace and fear:And you all know, securityIs mortals’ chiefest enemy. Hecate; talking to the other witches; He will be fooled into thinking he is greater than fate, he will mock death, and he will think he is above wisdom, grace, and fear. As you all know, overconfidence is man’s greatest enemy.
front to frontBring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;Within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape,Heaven forgive him too! Macduff; after finding out that Macbeth killed his whole family; Bring me face to face with Macbeth, that devil of Scotland. Put him within the reach of my sword, and if he escapes, may heaven forgive him as well!
Out, damned spot! out, I say!–One: two: why,then, ’tis time to do’t.–Hell is murky!–Fie, mylord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need wefear who knows it, when none can call our power toaccount?–Yet who would have thought the old manto have had so much blood in him. Lady Macbeth; hallucinating and sleepwalking; Come out, damned spot! Out, I command you! One, two. OK, it’s time to do it now.—Hell is murky!—Nonsense, my lord, nonsense! You are a soldier, and yet you are afraid? Why should we be scared, when no one can lay the guilt upon us?—But who would have thought the old man would have had so much blood in him?
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. Macbeth; when he hears that the queen has died; Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The days creep slowly along until the end of time. And every day that’s already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. Out, out, brief candle. Life is nothing more than an illusion. It’s like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning.
Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,For it hath cow’d my better part of man!And be these juggling fiends no more believed,That palter with us in a double sense;That keep the word of promise to our ear,And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee. Macbeth; after Macduff tells him he was born of a C-Section; Curse you for telling me this. You’ve fightened away my courage. I don’t believe those evil creatures anymore. They tricked me with their wordgames, raising my hopes and then destroying them. I won’t fight you.
August 1, 2019