The Taming of the Shrew quotes

Quotes from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew

Sly on his lineage, Induction 1

"we came in with Richard Conqueror"

Lord's intentions, Induction 1

"it will be pastime passing excellent"

Lord describing Sly (derogatory), Induction 1

“poor and loathsome beggar”

Huntsman on Sly's identity, Induction 1

"he shall think...he is no less than what we say he is"

Classical references in the art, Induction 2

"Adonis", "Cytherea", "Io", "Daphne"

Sly on his sleep, Induction 2

"by my fay, a goodly nap"

Sly summoning his 'wife', Bartholemew, Induction 2

"Madam, undress you, and come now to bed"

Lucentio describes Padua, A1S1

"fair Padua, nursery of arts"

Tranio reminds Lucentio to have fun, A1S1

"no profit grows where no pleasure is taken"

Gremio on courting Katherina, A1S1

"To cart her, rather. She's too rough for me."

Katherina's wordplay, A1S1

"is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?"

Hortensio on courting Katherina, A1S1

"no mates for you, unless you were of gentler, milder mold"

Katherina's threat to Hortensio, A1S1

"to comb your noddle with a three-legged stool"

Tranio on seeing Katherina, A1S1

"here's some good pastime toward; that wench is stark mad or wonderful froward"

Lucentio on Bianca's character, A1S1

"in the other's silence do I see maid's mild behaviour and sobriety"

Katherina on Bianca being a brat, A1S1

"it is best put finger in the eye"

Lucentio being Romeo 2.0, A1S1

"I burn, I pine, I perish"

Tranio on Katherina being an obstacle, A1S1

"her older sister is so curst and shrewd"

Petruchio being a gold-digger, A1S2

"I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; if wealthily then happily in Padua"

Grumio on Petruchio's confidence, A1S2

"for he fears none"

Tranio (as Lucentio) on Bianca vs Katherina, A1S2

"the one as famous for a scolding tongue / as is the other for beauteous modesty"

Bianca's passive-aggressive obedience to Katherina, A2S1

"so well I know my duty to my elders"

Katherina on her father's apathy to her, A2S1

"will you not suffer me?"

Katherina on Bianca's preciousness, A2S1

"now I see she is your treasure, she must have a husband"

Baptista on Vincentio, A2S1

"by report I know him well"

Petruchio on Katherina's violence, A2S1

"now, by the world, that is a lusty wench"

Petruchio defining Katherina's identity, A2S1

"you are called plain Kate, and bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst"

Petruchio twisting Katherina's words to innuendo, A2S1

"what, with my tongue in your tail?"

Petruchio on marrying Katherina, A2S1

"will you, nill you, I will marry you"

Petruchio on his destiny, A2S1

"I am he born to tame you, Kate"

Katherina on Petruchio to her father, A2S1

"one half lunatic, a mad ruffian and a swearing Jack"

Baptista tells Gremio and Hortensio that the richest can can Bianca, A2S1

"he of both / That can assure my daughter's greatest dower / shall have my daughter's love"

Tranio (as Lucentio) insulting Gremio's age, A2S1

"Greybeard, thy love doth freeze"

Bianca on her knowledge, A3S1

"I am no breeching scholar in the schools"

Bianca asserting she will learn in her own time, A3S1

"but learn my lessons as I please myself"

Bianca on tradition, A3S1

"Old fashions please me best. I am not so nice to change true rules for odd inventions."

Katherina's fear of humiliation, A3S2

"now must the world point at poor Katherina"

Biondello on Grumio's outfit, matching Petruchio, A3S2

"a monster, a very monster in apparel"

Petruchio on his wedding outfit, A3S2

"to me she's married, not unto my clothes"

Gremio's description of Petruchio, A3S2

"why, he's a devil, a devil, a very fiend"

Gremio on the wedding, A3S2

"such a mad marriage never was before!"

Petruchio on owning Kate, A3S2

"I will be master of what is mine own. She is my goods, my chattels... my anything"

Petruchio putting Kate on a pedestal, A3S2

"here she stands, touch here whoever dare"

Bianca's opinion of Kate's marriage, A3S2

"that being mad herself, she's madly mated"

Grumio on Petruchio’s violence in the journey, A4S1

“how he beat me because her horse stumbled, and how she waded through the dirt to pluck him off me”

Curtis the servant on Petruchio and Katherina, A4S1

"by this reck'ning, he is more shrew than she"

Peter the servant after Petruchio insults all the servants, A4S1

"he kills her in her own humour"

Petruchio's falconry metaphor, A4S1

"my falcon now is sharp and passing empty"

Petruchio's withholding of food and sleep, A4S1

"She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat. Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not,"

Petruchio pretending to have Katherina's best interest in mind, A4S1

"I intend that all is done in reverend care of her"

Petruchio's lesson about taming, A4S1

"This is a way to kill a wife with kindness. And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour"

Tranio on Hortensio's new wife, A4S2

"he'll have a lusty widow now that shall be wooed and wedded in a day"

Katherina's description of Petruchio's abuse, A4S3

"I...am starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep"

Katherina on Petruchio’s motivation for taming, A4S3

"he does it under the name of perfect love"

Petruchio on Katherina being ungrateful, A4S3

"I am sure, sweet Kate, that this kindness merits thanks"

Katherina on anger, A4S3

"my tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart, concealing it will break"

Katherina on freedom of speech, A4S3

"I will be free even to the uttermost, as I please, in words"

Katherina on wearing the hat, A4S3

"I like the cap, and it I will have, or I will have none"

Hortensio on Petruchio not meaning what he said, A4S3

"take no unkindness of his hasty words"

Petruchio defining the time, A4S3

"It shall be what o'clock I say it is"

Baptista on Bianca and Lucentio's feelings, A4S4

"Lucentio here doth love my daughter, and she loves him, or both dissemble deeply their affections"

Lucentio on marrying Bianca, A4S4

"I may, and will, if she be so contented"

Katherina gives in to Petruchio, A4S5

"be it moon, sun or what you please...henceforth I vow it shall be so for me"

Katherina pretending Vincentio is a girl, A4S5

"young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet"

Katherina agreeing to kiss Petruchio so he doesn't leave her, A5S1

"Nay, I will give thee a kiss. Now pray thee, love, stay"

The widow on Petruchio's assumption that Hortensio fears her, A5S2

"He that is giddy thinks the world turns round."

Petruchio betting on Katherina in the argument, A5S2

"A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down"

Petruchio setting out the contest, A5S2

"he whose wife is most obedient...shall win the wager"

Bianca's response to being summoned, A5S2

"she is busy, and she cannot come"

Widow's response to being summoned, A5S2

"She will not come. She bids you come to her."

Petruchio on what his marriage bodes, A5S2

"peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life, / An awful rule, and right supremacy, / And, to be short, what's not that's sweet and happy"

Petruchio on Katherina's hat, A5S2

"that cap of yours becomes you not. Of with that bauble, throw it underfoot."

Widow on learning a lesson, A5S2

"you're mocking. We will have no telling."

Katherina's descriptions of a husband, A5S2

"thy lord, thy king, thy governer" "thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign"

Katherina on husbands caring for wives, A5S2

"for thy maintenance commits his body to painful labour"

Katherina on female anatomy, A5S2

"why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth"

Katherina offering total subservience to Petruchio, A5S2

"my hand is ready, may it do him ease"

Petruchio closing statement on the others' marriages, A5S2

"Come Kate, we'll to bed. We three are married, but you two are sped."

Lucentio - final line of the play - on Katherina's taming, A5S2

"tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so"