| She returns this ring to you, sir. You might have saved me my pains to have taken it away yourself. She adds, moreover, that you should put your lord into…assurance she will none of him. And one thing more, that you be never so hardy to come again in his affairs, unless it be to report your lord’s taking of this. Receive it so. | Malvolio |
| Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her, and her will is it should be so returned. (he throws down the ring) If it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye. If not, be it his that finds it. | Malvolio |
| I left no ring with her. What means this lady?…She made good view of me, indeed so muchThat sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,For she did speak in starts distractedly.She loves me, sure! The cunning of her passionInvites me in this churlish messenger. | Cesario |
| Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness | Cesario |
| What will become of this? As I am man,My state is desperate for my master’s love.As I am woman, now, alas the day,What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!O time, thou must untangle this, not I.It is too hard a knot for me to untie! | Cesario |
| A false conclusion. I hate it as an unfilled can. To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is early, so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes. Does not our life consist of the four elements?…Thou’rt a scholar. Let us therefore eat and drink. Marian,I say! A stoup of wine! | Sir Toby Belch |
| My stars shine darkly over me. The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemper yours. Therefore I shall crave of you your leave that I may bear my evils alone. It were a bad recompense for your love to lay any of them on you. | Sebastian |
| If you will not murder me for my love, let me be your servant…The gentleness of all the gods go with thee!I have many enemies in Orsino’s court,Else would I very shortly see thee there.But, come what may, I do adore thee soThat danger shall seem sport, and I will go. | |
| By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. I had rather than forty shillings I had such a leg, and so sweet a breath to sing, as the fool has. | Sir Andrew Aguecheek |
| What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my lady have not called up her steward Malvolio and bid him turn you out of doors, never trust me. | Maria |
| My masters, are you mad?…Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do you make an alehouse of my lady’s house, that you squeak out your coziers’ catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you? | Malvolio |
| Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me tell you, that, though she harbors you as her kinsman, she’s nothing allied to your disorders. If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanors, you are welcome to the house. If not, an it would please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell. | Malvolio |
| Out o’ tune, sir. You lie. Art any more than a steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?…Go, sir, rub your chain with crumbs. A stoup of wine, Maria! | Sir Toby Belch |
| Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady’s favor at anything more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule. She shall know of it, by this hand. | Malvolio |
| ‘Twere as good a deed as to drink when a man’s a-hungry, to challenge him the field and then to break promise with him and make a fool of him. | Sir Andrew Aguecheek |
| Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for tonight… For Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him. If I do not gull him into a nayword and make him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed. I know I can do it. | Maria |
| Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan…The devil a puritan that he is, or anything constantly, but a time-pleaser; an affectioned ass that cons state without book and utters it by great swarths; the best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him. And on that vice in him will my revenge find notable cause to work. | Maria |
| I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of love…I can write very like my lady your niece: on a forgotten matter we can hardly make distinction of our hands. | Maria |
| _____:Before me, she’s a good wench._____:She’s a fine woman, all right._____:She’s a beagle, true-bred, and one that adores me. What o’ that? | Sir Toby & Sir Andrew |
| Then let thy love be younger than thyself,Or thy affection cannot hold the bent.For women are as roses, whose fair flowerBeing once displayed, doth fall that very hour. | Orsino |
| No pains, sir. I take pleasure in singing, sir…Truly, sir, and pleasure will be paid, one time or another. | Feste |
| Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,Hath for your love a great a pang of heartAs you have for Olivia. You cannot love her.You tell her so. Must she not then be answered? | Cesario |
| There is no woman’s sidesCan bide the beating of so strong a passionAs love doth give my heart. No woman’s heartSo big, to hold so much. They lack retention.Alas, their love may be called appetite…But mine is all as hungry as the sea,And can digest as much. Make no compareBetween that love a woman can bear meAnd that I owe Olivia. | Orsino |
| Too well what love women to men may owe.In faith, they are as true of heart as we.My father had a daughter loved a man…She never told her love,But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud,Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought…She sat like patience on a monument,Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?We men may say more, swear more, but indeedOur shows are more than will, for still we proveMuch in our vows, but little in our love. | Cesario |
| I am all the daughters of my father’s house,And all the brothers too—and yet I know not. | Cesario |
| Get you all three into the boxtree. Malvolio’s coming down this walk. He has been yonder i’ the sun practising behavior to his own shadow this half hour. Observe him, for the love of mockery, for I know this letter will make a contemplative idiot of him….Lie thou there (throwing down a letter), for here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling. | Maria |
| Maria once told me she did affect me, and I have heard herself come thus near, that, should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion. Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect than anyone else that follows her. What should I think on ‘t? | |
| To be Count Malvolio!…There is example for ‘t. The lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe…Having been three months married to her, sitting in my state…Calling my officers about me, in my branched velvet gown, having come from a daybed, where I have left Olivia sleeping…I would…ask for my kinsman Toby…Seven of my people, with an obedient start, make out for him. I frown the while, and perchance wind up watch, or play with my—some rich jewel. Toby approaches, curtsies there to me…I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar smile with an austere regard of control…Saying, “Cousin Toby, my fortunes having cast me on your niece give me this prerogative of speech…You must amend your drunkenness.” | Malvolio |
| What employment have we here?…By my life, this is my lady’s hand these be her very C’s, her U’s and her T’s and thus makes she her great P’s. It is, in contempt of question, her hand. | Malvolio |
| “To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes”—Her very phrases!…’Tis my lady. To whom should this be?…”M.O.A.I. doth sway my life.” Nay, but first, let me see, let me see, let me see…”I may command where I adore.” Why, she may command me. I serve her, she is my lady. Why, this is evident to any formal capacity. There is no obstruction in this. | Malvolio |
| He will come to her in yellow stockings, and ’tis a color she abhors, and cross-gartered, a fashion she detests. And he will smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt. If you will see it, follow me. | Maria |
| In my stars I am above thee, but be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. Thy Fates open their hands. Let thy blood and spirit embrace them. | Maria |
Twelfth Night: Act II Quotes
July 11, 2019