Famous Quotations from Antony and Cleopatra

The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet's fool. (1.1.13)

There's beggary in the love that can be reckoned. (1.1.15)

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall. Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man; the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do't. (1.1.34)

O excellent! I love long life better than figs. (1.2.35)

On the sudden
A Roman thought hath struck him. (1.2.91)

The nature of bad news infects the teller. (1.2.104)

I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment.
I do think there is mettle in death which commits some loving act upon her,
she hath such a celerity in dying. (1.2.151)

Indeed the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow. (1.2.182)

In time we hate that which we often fear. (1.3.13)

Eternity was in our lips and eyes,
Bliss in our brows bent. (1.3.36)

O! my oblivion is a very Antony,
And I am all forgotten. (1.3.92)

It hath been taught us from the primal state
That he which is was wished until he were,
And the ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,
Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide,
To rot itself with motion. (1.4.42)

Give me to drink mandragora. (1.5.4)

O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse, for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st?
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men. He's speaking now,
Or murmuring 'Where's my serpent of old Nile?' (1.5.22)

Think on me,
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time? (1.5.28)

My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then! (1.5.74)

Epicurean cooks
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite. (2.1.30)

I do not much dislike the matter, but
The manner of his speech. (2.2.118)

The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water; the poop was beaten gold,
Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that
The winds were love-sick with them, the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggared all description; she did lie
In her pavilion,--cloth-of-gold of tissue,--
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature; on each side her
Stood pretty-dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-coloured fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did. (2.2.200)

Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides,
So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,
And made their bends adornings; at the helm
A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands,
That yarely frame the office. From the barge
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her, and Antony,
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too
And made a gap in nature. (2.2.215)

I saw her once
Hop forty paces through the public street;
And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted
That she did make defect perfection,
And, breathless, power breathe forth. (2.2.237)

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. (2.2.244)

I have not kept the square, but that to come
Shall all be done by the rule. (2.3.6)

I' the east my pleasure lies. (2.3.41)

Give me some music; music, moody food
Of us that trade in love. (2.5.1)

'T was merry when
You wager'd on your angling; when your diver
Did hang a salt-fish on his hook, which he
With fervency drew up. (2.5.20)

I laughed him out of patience; and that night
I laughed him into patience: and next morn,
Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed. (2.5.20)

I will praise any man that will praise me. (2.6.89)

Egypt, thou knew'st too well
My heart was to thy rudder tied by th' strings,
And thou shouldst tow me after. (3.9.57)

He wears the rose
Of youth upon him. (3.11.21)

To let a fellow that will take rewards
And say 'God quit you!' be familiar with
My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal
And plighter of high hearts. (3.11.124)

Let's have one other gaudy night: call to me
All my sad captains; fill our bowls once more;
Let's mock the midnight bell. (3.1.184)

Since my lord
Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra. (3.11.186)

Men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike. (3.13.36)

O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. (4.9.13)

The hearts
That spanieled me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar. (4.10.34)

The soul and body rive not more in parting
Than greatness going off. (4.11.6)

Sometimes we see a cloud that's dragonish;
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendant rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon 't, that nod unto the world
And mock our eyes with air: thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper's pageants. (4.12.2)

I will be
A bridegroom in my death, and run into 't
As to a lover's bed. (4.12.100)

All strange and terrible events are welcome,
But comforts we despise. (4.13.3)

So it should be, that none but Antony
Should conquer Antony. (4.13.14)

I am dying, Egypt, dying; only
I here importune death awhile, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips. (4.13.19)

The miserable change now at my end
Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
Wherein I lived, the greatest prince o' the world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
My countryman; a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquished. (4.13.53)

What's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us. (4.13.87)

My desolation does begin to make
A better life. 'Tis paltry to be Caesar;
Not being Fortune, he's but Fortune's knave,
A minister of her will; and it is great
To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change,
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dug,
The beggar's nurse and Caesar's. (5.2.1)

For his bounty,
There was no winter in't; an autumn was
That grew the more by reaping; his delights
Were dolphin-like, they showed his back above
The element they lived in; in his livery
Walked crowns and crownets, realms and islands were
As plates dropped from his pocket. (5.2.79)

Mechanic slaves
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers. (5.2.252)

Finish, good lady; the bright day is done,
And we are for the dark. (5.2.193)

Antony
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
I' the posture of a whore. (5.2.218)

My resolution's placed, and I have nothing
Of woman in me; now from head to foot
I am marble-constant, now the fleeting moon
No planet is of mine. (5.2.238)

A very honest woman, but something given to lie. (5.2.252)

I know that a woman is a dish for the gods,
if the devil dress her not. (5.2.276)

Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
Immortal longings in me. (5.2.283)

Husband, I come:
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life. (5.2.290)

Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparalleled. (5.2.318)

She looks like sleep,
As she would catch a second Antony
In her strong toil of grace. (5.2.248)

She hath pursued conclusions infinite
Of easy ways to die. (5.2.357)

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Related Articles

 Introduction to Cleopatra
 Introduction to Octavia
 Antony and Cleopatra Plot Summary
 Sources for Antony and Cleopatra
 Shakespeare's First Folio
 Why Shakespeare is so Important
 Shakespeare's Language
 Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers
 Shakespeare's Boss: The Master of Revels
 Shakespeare Quotations (by Play and Theme)
 Quotations About William Shakespeare