Macbeth quotes

Fair is foul, and foul is fair The witches’ philosophy of life.
he unseam’d him from the nave to the chops The bloody Sergeant’s description of Macbeth’s killing of the rebel Macdonwald.
What, can the devil speak true? —Banquo’s reaction when it turns out that Macbeth has been named Thane of Cawdor, as the witches predicted.
Nothing in his lifeBecame him like the leaving it —Malcolm’s comment on the execution of the Thane of Cawdor, whose title was then given to Macbeth.
Let not light see my black and deep desires —After being honored by King Duncan, Macbeth wrestles with his desire to murder him.
Yet do I fear thy nature;It is too full o’ the milk of human kindnessTo catch the nearest way. —Lady Macbeth, after receiving her husband’s letter about the witches’ prophecy, expresses her fear that he isn’t bad enough.
Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty! —Lady Macbeth, upon hearing that King Duncan is to stay the night in her castle, pumps herself up to kill him.
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 —Macbeth, thinking about murdering Duncan, tries to think if there is a way to evade the consequences.
I have given suck, and knowHow tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me:I would, while it was smiling in my face,Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums,And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as youHave done to this. —Lady Macbeth heaps scorn on Macbeth’s declaration that they will “proceed no further” with the plan to murder King Duncan.
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,And we’ll not fail. —Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder King Duncan.
Bring forth men-children only;For thy undaunted mettle should composeNothing but males. —After Lady Macbeth has talked her husband into committing to the plan to murder King Duncan, Macbeth praises her manly spirit.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? —On his way to murder King Duncan, Macbeth sees the vision of the bloody dagger leading the way.
Had he not resembledMy father as he slept, I had done’t. —Lady Macbeth, worried that Macbeth will fail to murder King Duncan, reveals a weakness while boasting of her strength.
Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep,” the innocent sleep,Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,Chief nourisher in life’s feastWill all great Neptune’s ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No, this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas incarnadine,Making the green one red—Hearing a knocking at his palace gate, Macbeth fears that he can never wash away the evidence of his guilt. Here lay Duncan,His silver skin laced with his golden blood;And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in natureFor ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,Steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggersUnmannerly breech’d with gore. Who could refrain,That had a heart to love, and in that heartCourage to make’s love known?—In a moment of political deceit and emotional truth, Macbeth says that the sight of the dead king’s body impelled him to kill the grooms.Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,As the weird women promised, and I fearThou play’dst most foully for’t—Alone, Banquo reflects on Macbeth’s rise to the throne. 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 finds that getting what you want doesn’t bring peace. Come, seeling night,Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;And with thy bloody and invisible handCancel and tear to pieces that great bondWhich keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crowMakes wing to the rooky wood:Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse—Macbeth wishes for the coming of night and Banquo’s death. the times have been,That, when the brains were out, the man would die,And there an end, but now they rise again,With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,And push us from our stools: this is more strangeThan such a murder is.—Macbeth defends his fearful reaction to the appearance of Banquo’s ghost.It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood—After Banquo’s ghost has gone, Macbeth feels that his crime is pursuing him. I am in bloodStepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o’er—After telling his wife that he will visit the witches again, Macbeth reflects that there is no turning back from his evil course.Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.—The refrain of the witches’ chant as they await the arrival of Macbeth.Something wicked this way comes—Just before Macbeth appears to the witches, they predict his coming. none of woman bornShall harm Macbeth.—The second apparition, a “bloody Child,” delivers to Macbeth a deceptive prophecy.Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be untilGreat Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hillShall come against him.—The third apparition, “a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand,” makes Macbeth believe he can never be defeated. After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth fears that he will never sleep again.
September 2, 2019