King Lear Quotes

Act 1 Scene 1 (Gloucester humiliates Edmund to Kent, talking about how fun it was to conceive him. Example of Gloucester treating his sons badly) Lines 19-20

There was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged

Act 1 Scene 1 (Lear's introduction speech) Line 35

To shake all cares and business from our age

Act 1 Scene 1 (Irony in Lear's introduction speech) Line 40/41

That future strife may be prevented now

Act 1 Scene 1 (Hamartia example in Lear's introduction speech) Line 47-49

Which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge

Act 1 Scene 1 (Lear outraged at Cordelia not wanting to engage in the fueling of Lear's ego) Line 86

Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again

Act 1 Scene 1 (Cordelia's rebuttal to her lack of willingness to tell Lear her feelings) Line 87/88

I cannot heave my heart into my mouth

Act 1 Scene 1 (Lear telling Kent to stay out of the conflict) Line 118-120

Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I loved her most, and thought to set my rest on her kind nursery

Act 1 Scene 1 (Lear confirms that his land and wealth is split between Goneril and Regan) Line 134

This coronet part between you

Act 1 Scene 1 (Kent does not back down from speaking his mind to Lear out of loyalty for the man) Line 143-144

Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak, when power to flattery bows?

Act 1 Scene 1 (Kent urges Lear to rethink his rash decision of disowning Cordelia and doesn't sugar coat it) Line 145-147

Reserve thy state, and in thy best consideration check this hideous rashness.

Act 1 Scene 1 (Kent urges Lear to see clearly, uses an eye motif) Line 154-155

See better, Lear, and let me still remain the true blank of thine eye

Act 1 Scene 1 (Cordelia tells her sisters that she knows their true nature) Line 265

I know you what you are

Act 1 Scene 1 (Cordelia tells her sisters to take care of Lear, example of irony since Cordelia knows they won't take care of Lear) Line 267

Love well our father

Act 1 Scene 1 (Goneril suspects that old age has contributed to Lear's actions and rashness) Line 282

You see how full of changes his age is

Act 1 Scene 1 (Regan agrees that his age has contributed to his actions, but quips that he's never known himself/is insecure) Line 286-287

'Tis the infirmity of his age; yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself

Act 1 Scene 1 (Goneril says that Lear was this rash and insecure when he was in his prime as well) Line 288

The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash

Act 1 Scene 2 (Edmund starts his soliloquy, saying that nature/his selfish nature is the only law he abides by and not the law of man) Line 1-2

Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law my services are bound

Act 1 Scene 2 (Edmund questions why he’s supposed to be viewed as inferior to his brother for the sole reason that Edgar is older and legitimate) Line 6

Why ‘bastard’? Wherefore ‘base’?

Act 1 Scene 2 (Edmund calls on the gods to assist him and his undesirable origin while in a fit of passionate rant) Line 22

Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

Act 1 Scene 2 (Gloucester asks Edmund if he’s sure that the penmanship is Edgar’s. Shows that Gloucester may have been neglectful towards Edmund and Edgar) Line 59

You know the character to be your brother’s?

Act 1 Scene 2 (Gloucester continues Edmund's references to nature and uses apocalyptic imagery, this foreshadows the future tragedy the play will hold) Line 97-98

These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us

Act 1 Scene 2 (Gloucester foreshadows the distancing of the relationships in the play, specifically with his references to brothers) Line 100-101

Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide

Act 1 Scene 2 (Gloucester says that he has seen the best years of his life, essentially that he's old) Line 105

We have seen the best of our time

Act 1 Scene 2 (Gloucester comments on the absurdity of Kent's banishment and how foolish of a decision it is on Lear's part despite him too making similar foolish mistakes. Dramatic irony) Line 109-110

The noble and true-hearted Kent banished! His offence, honesty!

Act 1 Scene 2 (Edmund tells Edgar that he's being honest and that it would be in Edgar's best interest to avoid Gloucester, which is part of Edmund's plan. Ironic/Dramatic irony) Line 161-162

I am no honest man if there be any good meaning towards you

Act 1 Scene 2 (Edmund comments on how Edgar is so kind that he doesn't suspect harm directed to him) Line 178-179

Whose nature is so far from doing harms that he suspects none

Act 1 Scene 4 (The Fool makes fun of Lear for giving away his crown using wordplay) Line 151-153

Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown, when thou gavest thy golden one away

Act 1 Scene 4 (The Fool jokes that Lear has given his daughters the power to discipline him and makes fun of this role reversal) Line 160-161

Thou madest thy daughters thy mothers

Act 1 Scene 4 (The Fool calls Lear a shadow of his former self due to giving away his power) Line 218

Lear’s shadow

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear has realized his mistake with disowning Cordelia and says that he has realized his error too late) Line 245

Woe, that too late repents!

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear compares Goneril to a bird of prey, begins the animal imagery) Line 250

Detested kite, thou liest!

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear starts heavily regretting disowning Cordelia and beats himself, quite literally, over it) Line 258-260

O Lear, Lear, Lear! Beat at this gate that let thy folly in and thy dear judgement out!

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear wishes infertility on Goneril) Line 267

Dry up in her the organs of increase

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear continues the animal imagery, referencing serpents which assists in both her characterization, the fact that she lies to Lear that she loves him and her reason for dismissing the knights, and Lear’s, the fact that he’s much more cruel to Goneril since he can only use words and has no substantial power) Line 276-277

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear is ashamed that Goneril has made him feel threatened/shame, the knights are a symbol of Lear’s diminishing power as Lear found it emasculating that Goneril took control of his knights) Line 284-285

I am ashamed that thou hast power to shake my manhood thus

Act 1 Scene 4 (Lear threatens that he’ll get the power he once had back and exact revenge) Line 296-298

Thou shalt find that I’ll resume the shape which thou dost think I have cast off for ever

Act 1 Scene 5(Lear laments on his mistake with “her”, we assume he means Cordelia) Line 20

I did her wrong-

Act 1 Scene 5(The fool insults Lear, saying that he should’ve became wise before being old) Line 37

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise

Act 1 Scene 5(Lear prays to heaven for him to not be mad) Line 38-39

O let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!

Act 2 Scene 1 (Edmund plans to use the new information about the dukes to his advantage. Shows he’s opportunistic) Line 15

This weaves itself perforce into my business

Act 2 Scene 1 (Edmund injures himself so that his stages fight with Edgar seems more realistic) Lines 34-35

Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion of my more fierce endeavour

Act 2 Scene 1 (Gloucester disowns Edgar and decides he’ll give his inheritance to Edmund) Line 85-85

Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means to make thee capable

Act 2 Scene 2 (Kent says that it’s his job to be honest and blunt) Line 86

Sir, ‘tis my occupation to be plain

Act 2 Scene 2 (Kent hopes that the wheel of fortune will turn in his and Lear’s favor) Lines 165-166

Fortune, good night. Smile once more; turn thy wheel

Act 2 Scene 3 (Edgar disguises himself as a Bedlam beggar) Lines 6-7

bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape

Act 2 Scene 3 (Edgar says that there’s no hope for him as Edgar) Line 21

Edgar I nothing am

Act 2 Scene 4 (The Fool tells Lear that he’s not out of the woods yet, foreshadowing Regan’s future confrontation with Lear) Line 45

Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild-geese fly that way

Act 2 Scene 4 (Lear begs Regan to take care of him so he doesn’t have to apologize to Goneril) Lines 151-152

Age is unnecessary: on my knees I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food

Act Scene 4 (Lear tells Regan that he’d never curse her and that he knows she’s grateful for half the kingdom which he gave her and that she knows her duty by nature, to take care of him) Lines 174-176

The offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. Thy half o’ the kingdom hast thou not forgot

Act 2 Scene 4 (Lear begs them not to make him mad, the crazy kind of mad) Line 214

I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad

Act 2 Scene 4 (Lear calls Regan a disease he’s tied to, being in his blood) Lines 217-218

Thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter- or rather a disease that’s in my flesh

Act 2 Scene 4 (Lear pleads with Regan saying that he gave her everything which Regan replies that it took him long enough to) Lines 246-247

I gave you all- and in good time you gave it

Act 2 Scene 4 (Lear rants angrily at Regan) Lines 267-269

Patience I need! You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, as full of grief as age; wretched in both!

Act 2 Scene 4 (Regan and Goneril haggle over how many knights Lear needs, mirror there attitudes during the love test) Line 259

What need one?

Act 3 Scene 1 (Lear is going mad) Line 2

One minded like the weather, most unquietly

Act 3 Scene 2 (There’s a real storm and a symbolic one, Lear is talking to the storm, urging it on) Line 1

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!

Act 3 Scene 2 (Lear tries to command the elements, shows how weak he is. This monologue shows Lear’s bitterness towards his daughters) Lines 14-17 and Line 20

Rumble thy bellyfull! Spit, fire! Spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters. I tax you not, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, called you children. A poor, infirm, weak and despised old man.

Act 3 Scene 2 (Lear believes that he’s the victim in this situation) Line 58-59

I am a man more sinned against than sinning

Act 3 Scene 2 (Lear sees things more clearly, could be that Lear has seen how the poor live) Line 67

My wits begin to turn

Act 3 Scene 4 (Lear’s mental turmoil makes it hard for him to not think about his ungrateful daughters) Lines 12-14

The tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else save what beats there- filial ingratitude!

Act 3 Scene 4 (The literal storm stops Lear from thinking about the thoughts that’ll hurt him more) Line 25-25

This tempest will not give me leave to ponder on things would hurt me more

Act 3 Scene 4 (Lear feels bad for the poor who have no shelter from the storm and the elements) Lines 28-29

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm

Act 3 Scene 4 (Lear feels bad for not helping them and believes he should’ve done better and that he should expose himself to the elements to learn) Lines 32-34

I have ta’en too little care of this! Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel

Act 3 Scene 4 (Animal imagery- Lear compares his daughters to pelicans who eat from their parents’ mouths) Line 71

pelican daughters

Act 3 Scene 4 (Edgar makes up an elaborate backstory, essentially describing himself as someone who’s done a lot of sin and has ended up a mad, impoverished beggar. Reflects his worldview that people who have ended up in a bad position must’ve done something horrible. Reflects Edmund’s previous assessment of Edgar in Act 1 Scene 2)

Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders’ books, and defy the foul fiend

Act 3 Scene 4 (Kent tells Gloucester that Lear is losing it) Line 149

his wits begin t’unsettle

Act 3 Scene 6 (Lear accuses the imaginary Goneril that she kicked him while he was down) Line 46-47

she kicked the poor King her father

Act 3 Scene 6 (Edgar’s mad act may break as he feels sorry for Lear) Lines 58-59

My tears begin to take his part so much they mar my counterfeiting

Act 3 Scene 6 (Edgar says that misery loves company and that we forget our suffering when we see our superiors suffer the same, shows that Edgar is compassionate and empathetic) Lines 99-100

When we our betters see bearing our woes, we scarcely think our miseries our foes.

Act 3 Scene 6 (Edgar empathizes with Lear, saying his children are as bitter as his father, shows that Edgar is compassionate and empathetic) Line 107

He childed as I fathered

Act 3 Scene 7 (Cornwall tells Edmund to leave as they’re about to enact revenge on his father. Foreshadows violence which provides the audience with suspense) Lines 7-8

The revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding

Act 3 Scene 7 (Cornwall can’t sentence Gloucester to death without a formal trial they can punish him. Theme of Justice) Lines 23-25

We may not pass upon his life without some form of justice, yet our power shall do a court’sy to our wrath

Act 3 Scene 7 (Gloucester asks them to treat him fairly, Theme of Justice?) Line 30

Do me no foul play, friends

Act 3 Scene 7 (Gloucester compares being tied to a chair to being tied to a stake, like a criminal, or like an animal, regardless it leaves him vulnerable as he has to endure the punishment till it ends) Line 52

I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course

Act 3 Scene 7 (Gloucester answers why he helped the king, example of eye motif and foreshadowing/Irony) Lines 53-54

I would not see thy cruel nails pluck out his poor old eyes

Act 3 Scene 7 (Gloucester swears that he’ll see Goneril and Regan get their comeuppance, ironic and an example of an eye motif) Lines 62-63

But I shall see the winged vengeance overtake such children

Act 3 Scene 7 (Regan urges Cornwall to gouge out the other eye, shows that she’s aggressive and is a switch on the gender roles at the time, similar to the gender roles between Goneril and Albany) Line 77

One side will mock another. Th’ other too!

Act 3 Scene 7 (Cornwall removes Gloucester’s other eye, mocking him by asking where his brightness had gone, reference to Gloucester’s line about seeing Goneril and Regan get punished?) Line 82-83

Out vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?

Act 3 Scene 7 (Regan reveals to Gloucester that Edmund was the one who snitched on him. Regan compounds emotional hurt with the physical, shows her to be sadistic) Lines 87-88

Thou call’st on him that hates thee. It was he that made the overture of thy treasons to us

Act 3 Scene 7 (Gloucester realises his mistake, ironic as he is now blind, quote echoes Lear’s “follies“ line) Lines 90-91

O my follies! Then Edgar was abused. Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him

Act 4 Scene 1 (Gloucester is in despair as he has nowhere to go and even when he could see he was wrong. Gloucester acknowledges his mistakes where Lear is too proud to use of foils) Line 19

I stumbled when I saw

Act 4 Scene 1 (Gloucester says that they are merely flies to the gods. He compares them to flies swatted by humans without a second thought, the humans being the Gods) Lines 36-37

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport

Act 4 Scene 2 (Albany insults Goneril harshly, contrast with his character in Act 1 Scene 4. Second instance of the good characters going against the bad.) Lines 31-32

You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face

Act 4 Scene 2 (Albany says that Cornwall’s death is proof that divine justice exists and that Cornwall deserved the fatal wound) Lines 79-80

This shows you are above, you justicers, that these our nether crimes

Act 4 Scene 3 (Kent comments on how the same two people produced such opposite personalities, Goneril/Regan compared to Cordelia. Kent blames it on fate/the divine) Line 33

The stars above us govern our conditions

Act 4 Scene 4 (Cordelia says that the French are only here to help him, this quote is similar to one in the bible said by Jesus, highlighting her as Lear’s saviour, further supported by the angelic/heavenly adjectives used for her) Lines 23-24

O dear father! It is thy business that I go about

Act 4 Scene 4 (Cordelia says that the French have no intention of conquering England, but that they’re instead there for love and to help Lear. Rhyme is used as Shakespeare uses rhyme when one of the good characters are about to do a good deed ) Lines 27-28

No blown ambition doth our arms incite but love, dear love, and our aged father’s right

Act 4 Scene 6 (Edgar speaks to the audience, telling us his motivations outright, further reinforcing his kind and moral nature) Lines 33-34

Why I do trifle thus with his despair is done to cure it

Act 4 Scene 6 (Gloucester bids farewell to this world and ergo will get rid of his torment whether that be the torment of blindness, his betrayal by Edmund or betraying Edgar is unknown) Lines 36-37

This world I do renounce, and in your sights shake patiently my great affliction off

Act 4 Scene 6 (Is Lear describing himself or Gloucester in the first words of his quote? Does he mistake Gloucester for her due to his bitterness? Lear was flattered blindly, told he had wisdom before he actually was wise which inflated his ego tying with his vanity and fall from grace or was he disregarded due to his old age which undermine his faith in himself? Animal imagery) Lines 96-98

Goneril with a white beard! They flattered me like a dog. and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there

Act 4 Scene 6 (The storm allowed Lear to realise the truth about Goneril and Regan. The storm functions as both a symbol for madness and a metaphor for Lear’s shock at the betrayal of Goneril and Regan. Ties in with Lear’s animal simile. He realises their flattery is false) Lines 101-104

When the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found ‘em, there I smelt ‘em out. Go to, they are not men ‘o their words. They told me I was everything

Act 4 Scene 6 (Lear finds it ironic that Gloucester’s bastard son who came from Gloucester’s sins is nicer than Lear’s legitimate daughter’s are to him. This is dramatic irony as we know that Edmund is worse than Lear’s daughters while Lear doesn’t know of Edmund’s true nature) Lines 112-114

For Gloucester’s bastard son was kinder to his father than my daughters got ‘tween the lawful sheets

Act 4 Scene 6 (Gloucester believes that Lear’s ruin is symbolic of the collapse of the nature world, links in with England possibly being a neglected garden by Lear, splitting the kingdom, evil winning for most of the play and the reverse gender roles of Lear’s daughters and their husbands and France needing to help England who have a historical hatred, all tie to the shuffle of the natural order) Lines 132-133

O ruined piece of nature! This great world shall so wear out to naught

Act 4 Scene 6 (Lear tells Gloucester to use a different sense if he’s blind. Reflects Gloucester’s insight) Lines 146-147

A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears

Act 4 Scene 6 (Theme of Justice- Lear believes that everyone is some form of criminal but that the rich can get away with it due to their wealth) Lines 159-160

Plate sin with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks

Act 4 Scene 6 (Edgar agrees with Lear’s view that the rich can get away with crimes despite the accompanying nonsense in his speeches. Implies that Lear is more wiser after his personal tragedy. Does Shakespeare imply that suffering makes us wiser/empathetic?) Line 169

Reason in madness!

Act 4 Scene 6 (Lear speaks like his fool, shows that he’s grown wiser as he’s now adopted the knowledge and words of his most wisest companion) Lines 176-177

When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools

Act 4 Scene 6 (Edgar regrets killing Oswald despite the having killed him in self defence. Shows that Edgar maintains manners despite the extreme circumstances of his situation) Lines 249-250

He’s dead. I am only sorry he had no other deathsman

Act 4 Scene 7 (Lear is willing to endure whatever punishment Cordelia sees fit, shows his guilt and that he’s humbled in her presence) Line 74

If you have poison for me, I will drink it

Act 4 Scene 7 (Lear admits that he has harmed Cordelia and believes that if she hates him, she is justified) Line 75-77

For your sisters have, as I do remember, done me wrong. You have some cause; they have not