| If you go on thus, you will kill yourself,And ’tis not wisdom thus to second griefAgainst yourself. | Antonio to Leonato |
| I pray thee, cease thy counsel,Which falls into mine ears as profitlessAs water in a sieve. Give not me counsel,Nor let no comforter delight mine earBut such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.Bring me a father that so loved his child,Whose joy of her is overwhelmed like mine,And bid him speak of patience.Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,And let it answer every strain for strain,As thus for thus and such a grief for such,In every lineament, branch, shape, and form.If such a one will smile and stroke his beard,Bid sorrow wag, cry “hem” when he should groan,Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunkWith candle-wasters, bring him yet to meAnd I of him will gather patience.But there is no such man. For, brother, menCan counsel and speak comfort to that griefWhich they themselves not feel, but, tasting it,Their counsel turns to passion which beforeWould give preceptial med’cine to rage,Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,Charm ache with air, and agony with words | Leonato to Antonio |
| I pray thee, peace. I will be flesh and blood,For there was never yet philosopherThat could endure the toothache patiently,However they have writ the style of godsAnd made a push at chance and sufferance. | Leonato to Antonio |
| There thou speak’st reason. Nay, I will do so.My soul doth tell me Hero is belied,And that shall Claudio know; so shall the PrinceAnd all of them that thus dishonor her. | Leonato to Antonio |
| Here comes the Prince and Claudio hastily. | Antonio to Leonato |
| Some haste, my lord! Well, fare you well, my lord.Are you so hasty now? Well, all is one. | Leonato to Don Pedro |
| Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. | Don Pedro to Antonio/Leonato |
| If he could right himself with quarreling,Some of us would lie low. | Antonio to Claudio |
| Marry, thou dost wrong me, thou dissembler, thou.Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword.I fear thee not. | Leonato to Claudio |
| Marry, beshrew my handIf it should give your age such cause of fear.In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword | Claudio to Leonato |
| Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me.I speak not like a dotard nor a fool,As under privilege of age to bragWhat I have done being young, or what would doWere I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head,Thou hast so wronged mine innocent child and meThat I am forced to lay my reverence by,And with gray hairs and bruise of many daysDo challenge thee to trial of a man.I say thou hast belied mine innocent child.Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart,And she lies buried with her ancestors,Oh, in a tomb where never scandal sleptSave this of hers, framed by thy villainy. | Leonato to Claudio |
| My lord, my lord,I’ll prove it on his body if he dare,Despite his nice fence and his active practice,His May of youth and bloom of lustihood. | Leonato to Claudio |
| Away! I will not have to do with you. | Claudio to Leonato |
| Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast killed my child.If thou kill’st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man. | Leonato to Claudio |
| He shall kill two of us, and men indeed,But that’s no matter. Let him kill one first.Win me and wear me! Let him answer me.—Come, follow me, boy. Come, sir boy, come, follow me.Sir boy, I’ll whip you from your foining fence,Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will. | Antonio to Leonato |
| Content yourself. God knows I loved my niece,And she is dead, slandered to death by villainsThat dare as well answer a man indeedAs I dare take a serpent by the tongue.—Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops! | Antonio to Leonato |
| Hold you content. What, man! I know them, yea,And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple—Scrambling, outfacing, fashion-monging boys,That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander,Go anticly and show outward hideousness,And speak off half a dozen dang’rous wordsHow they might hurt their enemies, if they durst,And this is all. | Antonio to Leonato |
| Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience.My heart is sorry for your daughter’s death,But, on my honor, she was charged with nothingBut what was true and very full of proof. | Don Pedro to Leonato/Antonio |
| Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover,they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders;sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they haveverified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lyingknaves. | Dogberry to Don Pedro |
| First, I ask thee what they have done; thirdly, I ask theewhat’s their offense; sixth and lastly, why they arecommitted; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge | Don Pedro |
| He is composed and framed of treachery,And fled he is upon this villainy. | Don Pedro to Claudio |
| Come, bring away the plaintiffs. By this time our sextonhath reformed Signior Leonato of the matter. And,masters, do not forget to specify, when time and place shallserve, that I am an ass. | Dogberry to Verges |
| Which is the villain? Let me see his eyes,That, when I note another man like him,I may avoid him. Which of these is he? | Leonato to Borachio |
| Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast killedMine innocent child? | Leonato to Borachio |
| No, not so, villain, thou beliest thyself.Here stand a pair of honorable men—A third is fled—that had a hand in it.—I thank you, princes, for my daughter’s death.Record it with your high and worthy deeds.’Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it. | Leonato to Claudio |
| I know not how to pray your patience,Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge yourself.Impose me to what penance your inventionCan lay upon my sin. Yet sinned I notBut in mistaking. | Claudio to Don Pedro |
Much Ado About Nothing Act 5 Quotes
July 13, 2019