William Shakespeare - King Quotes

85 Sourced Quotes

View all William Shakespeare Quotes
The Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be King
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor.

William Shakespeare
Shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king, and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antick, the law.

William Shakespeare
You may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.

William Shakespeare
ROSENCRANTZ My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king. HAMLET The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing - GUILDENSTERN A thing my lord? HAMLET Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after!

William Shakespeare
Like Patience gazing on kings' graves, and smiling
Extremity out of act.

William Shakespeare
As the old hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, very wittily said to a niece of King Gorboduc, "That, that is, is."

William Shakespeare
What must the king do now? Must he submit?
The king shall do it: must he be deposed?
The king shall be contented: must he lose
The name of king? o' God's name, let it go.

William Shakespeare
Peace! impudent and shameless Warwick, peace;
Proud setter up and puller down of kings.

William Shakespeare
The color of the king doth come and go,
Between his purpose and his conscience,
Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set:
His passion is so ripe, it needs must break.

William Shakespeare
Cheerily to sea; the signs of war advance: No king of England, if not king of France

William Shakespeare
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose to the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude, and in the calmest and most stillest night, with all appliances and means to boot, deny it to a king?

William Shakespeare
To lapse in fulness Is sorer than to lie for need, and falsehood Is worse in kings than beggars.

William Shakespeare
And to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief.

William Shakespeare
Titus Andronicus, my lord the Emperor
Sends thee this word, that, if thou love thy sons,
Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,
Or any one of you, chop off your hand
And send it to the King: he for the same
Will send thee hither both thy sons alive,
And that shall be the ransom for their fault.

William Shakespeare
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

William Shakespeare
All places that the eye of heaven visits Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. Teach thy necessity to reason thus; There is no virtue like necessity. Think not the king did banish thee, But thou the king.

William Shakespeare
The bay-trees in our country are all withered,
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven.
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap;
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.

William Shakespeare
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!

William Shakespeare
Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd?
Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd?

William Shakespeare
There's such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it would.

William Shakespeare
Fare thee well, king: sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.

William Shakespeare
BIRON: What is the end of study? let me know?
KING: Why, that to know, which else we should not know.
BIRON: Things hid and barr'd, you mean, from common sense?
KING: Ay, that is study's godlike recompense.

William Shakespeare
Hamlet: No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i' the world.
King: What do you call the play?
Hamlet: The Mouse-trap.

William Shakespeare
An earnest conjuration from the King,
As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them like the palm might flourish,
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear
And stand a comma 'tween their amities,
And many such-like as's of great charge,
That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving time allow'd.

William Shakespeare
Is not the king's name twenty thousand names?
Arm, arm, my name! A puny subject strikes
At thy great glory.

William Shakespeare
Time's glory is to calm contending kings,
To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light.

William Shakespeare
How long a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging winters and four wanton springs
End in a word; such is the breath of kings.

William Shakespeare
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.

William Shakespeare
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings.

William Shakespeare
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.

William Shakespeare