Quotes For Macbeth
“Quotes for Macbeth” provides a powerful glimpse into the dark and ambitious world created by William Shakespeare in his iconic tragedy. These quotes reflect Macbeth’s psychological turmoil and offer insights into fate, power, and guilt. Famous lines, such as “Out, out brief candle!” and “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” highlight the character’s descent into madness, illustrating the destructive effects of unchecked ambition. When exploring “Macbeth quotes about ambition” or “Macbeth quotes on power,” one can delve into the complexities of his moral conflict and the corrupting influence of his desires. Additionally, “Macbeth quotes about fate” and “Macbeth quotes on guilt” help readers understand the tragic inevitability of his downfall, making these quotes memorable and critical to understanding the timeless nature of Shakespeare’s work.
Quotes on Ambition in Macbeth
Ambition drives the plot of Macbeth, showcasing its destructive potential when left unchecked.
Macbeth’s Ambition
- “Vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” – Act 1, Scene 4
- “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell.” – Act 2, Scene 1
- “To be thus is nothing; But to be safely thus.” – Act 3, Scene 1
- “Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up thine own life’s means!” – Act 2, Scene 4
- “Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “The near in blood, the nearer bloody.” – Act 2, Scene 3
- “Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “We have scorched the snake, not killed it.” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “That will never be: Who can impress the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earth-bound root?” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “What’s done cannot be undone.” – Act 5, Scene 1
- “Give me my armor; how does your patient, doctor?” – Act 5, Scene 3
- “The time is free.” – Act 5, Scene 8
Quotes on Guilt and Conscience
Guilt pervades the minds of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, unraveling their psyches as the play progresses.
Macbeth’s Torment
- “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.’” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “Thou canst not say I did it; never shake Thy gory locks at me!” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.” – Act 2, Scene 3
- “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures.” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “Better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace.” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, bound in To saucy doubts and fears.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” – Act 5, Scene 5
- “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “This is the very painting of your fear.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” – Act 5, Scene 1
- “To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself.” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” – Act 5, Scene 1
- “Things without all remedy should be without regard: what’s done is done.” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” – Act 2, Scene 3
- “Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles.” – Act 5, Scene 1
- “I am afraid to think what I have done.” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “Here’s the smell of the blood still.” – Act 5, Scene 1
Quotes on Fate and Free Will
The witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s choices create an intricate dance between destiny and autonomy.
Prophecies and Supernatural Influence
- “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” – Act 1, Scene 1
- “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” – Act 1, Scene 1
- “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?” – Act 5, Scene 1
- “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow.” – Act 5, Scene 5
- “All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “There is none but he whose being I do fear.” – Act 3, Scene 1
- “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “None of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “What’s he that was not born of woman? Such a one Am I to fear, or none.” – Act 5, Scene 7
- “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Hail, king! for so thou art.” – Act 5, Scene 8
- “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” – Act 2, Scene 1
- “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou oppos’d, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last.” – Act 5, Scene 7
- “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “I bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born.” – Act 5, Scene 8
Quotes on Macbeth’s Power and Corruption
The theme of power and its corrupting influence is central to Macbeth. It explores how unchecked ambition and the thirst for power can lead to moral degradation.
Macbeth’s Descent into Tyranny
- “The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence.” – Act 1, Scene 3
- “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” – Act 1, Scene 5
- “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself.” – Act 2, Scene 2
- “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, The nearer bloody.” – Act 2, Scene 3
- “Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and I fear Thou play’dst most foully for’t.” – Act 3, Scene 1
- “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” – Act 3, Scene 2
- “We are yet but young in deed.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “Be bloody, bold, and resolute.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp’d in so far.” – Act 3, Scene 4
- “Deny me this, and an eternal curse fall on you!” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “I have almost forgot the taste of fears.” – Act 5, Scene 5
- “I pull in resolution and begin to doubt th’ equivocation of the fiend That lies like truth.” – Act 5, Scene 5
- “She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word.” – Act 5, Scene 5
- “They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course.” – Act 5, Scene 7
- “This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen.” – Act 5, Scene 8
- “The usurper’s cursed head.” – Act 5, Scene 8
Quotes on Loyalty and Betrayal
Macbeth presents a stark juxtaposition of loyalty and betrayal, as characters navigate shifting allegiances.
Exploring Betrayal in Macbeth
- “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” – Act 1, Scene 1
- “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” – Act 1, Scene 4
- “Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it.” – Act 1, Scene 4
- “The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself.” – Act 1, Scene 4
- “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” – Act 1, Scene 7
- “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, The nearer bloody.” – Act 2, Scene 3
- “O nation miserable, With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered.” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “Dispute it like a man.” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “None of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “The flighty purpose never is o’ertook unless the deed go with it.” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “The grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “Alas, poor country! Almost afraid to know itself!” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “Infected be the air whereon they ride, And damn’d all those that trust them!” – Act 4, Scene 1
- “You have loved him well; He hath not touch’d you yet.” – Act 4, Scene 3
- “Let every soldier hew him down a bough And bear’t before him.” – Act 5, Scene 4
- “Hail, king! for so thou art.” – Act 5, Scene 8
- “What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman?” – Act 5, Scene 7
- “If thou be’st slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.” – Act 5, Scene 7
- “And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; Would he were here!” – Act 3, Scene 4
