Tragedy Quotes

Front 1

Life is a casting off. It's always that way

Back 1

Linda. Shows her willingness to move on compared to Willy's stubborn fixed state

Act 1

Front 2

A man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime

Back 2

Linda to biff

Front 3

He's not the finest character that ever lived, but he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him

Back 3

Linda about Willy

Front 4

I know he's not easy to get along with - nobody knows that better than me

Back 4

Linda about willy

Front 5

A lot of people think he's lost his balance

Back 5

Linda about Willy

Front 6

[Going right through her speech]

Back 6

Linda is always talked over by willy. Link to patriarchal society, normal at the time

Front 7

He's only a little boat looking for a harbour

Back 7

Linda about Willy

Front 8

Why must everybody conquer the world?

Back 8

Linda about the American dream

Front 9

We're free... we're free

Back 9

Linda in the requiem

About Willy or the mortgage?

Front 10

[Bears a worn air and seems less self-assured]

[He has succeeded less and his dreams are stranger and less acceptable than Happy's]

Back 10

About Biff

Front 11

I don't know what I'm supposed to want

Back 11

Biff

Front 12

It's a measly manner of existence

Back 12

Biff about working in the city

Front 13

Whenever spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I'm not getting anywhere

Back 13

Biff. Existential crisis, feels pressured to achieve the American dream

Front 14

You're a poet... you're an idealist

Back 14

Happy about Biff

Front 15

I'm like a boy

Back 15

Biff. Feels he has never grown up

Front 16

He's a fake

Back 16

Biff about willy

Front 17

I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been

Back 17

Biff act 2

Front 18

When a deposit bottle is broken you don't get your nickel back

Back 18

Charley, act 1

Front 19

Willy, when are you going to grow up?

Back 19

Charley to Willy, act 2

Front 20

The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a salesman and you don't know that

Back 20

Charley to Willy, act 2

Front 21

No man needs only a little salary

Back 21

Charley, in the requiem

Front 22

What an anaemic

Back 22

Willy about Bernard. Shows the importance he places upon appearance

Front 23

Sometimes [...] it's better for a man to just walk away

Back 23

Bernard to Willy

Front 24

Business is business

Back 24

Howard to Willy

Front 25

You didn't crack up again did you?

Back 25

Howard to Willy

Front 26

[His mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties]

Back 26

About Willy

Front 27

I'm tired to the death

Back 27

Willy. Foreshadowing the ending

Front 28

I'm the New England man

Back 28

Willy. Shows his self importance and delusion

Act 2

Front 29

Never leave a job until you're finished

Back 29

Willy. Dramatic irony, he never left the job until he was finished

Act 2

Front 30

The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead

Back 30

Willy act 2

Front 31

Be liked and you will never want

Back 31

Willy act 1

Front 32

People don't seem to take to me

I joke too much

I talk too much

I'm very - foolish to look at

Back 32

Willy act 1

Front 33

The world is an oyster, but you don't crack it open on a mattress!

Back 33

Willy act 1

Front 34

I won't have you mending stockings in this house

Back 34

Willy to Linda, act 1

Shows his guilt

Front 35

A man who can't handle tools is not a man. You're disgusting

Back 35

Willy to Charley, act 1

Feels inferior to Charley as he is less successful, so Willy attempts to emasculate him to make himself feel better

Front 36

Biff is a lazy bum!

Greatest thing in the world was for him to bum around

Back 36

Willy about Biff. Change shows his mercurial nature. Act 1

Front 37

Like a young god

A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away

Back 37

Willy about biff, act 1

Front 38

I'm always in a race with the junkyard

Back 38

Willy, act 2

Front 39

I was with the firm when your father used to carry you in here in his arms

Back 39

Willy to Howard, act 2

Shows he is still stuck in the past

Front 40

In those days there was personality in it [...] there was respect, and comradeship and gratitude in it

Back 40

Willy to Howard, act 2

Front 41

You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit!

Back 41

Willy to Howard, act 2

Front 42

I can't throw myself on my sons. I'm not a cripple!

Back 42

Willy to Howard, act 2

Front 43

It's not what you do, Ben. It's who you know and the smile on your face

Back 43

Willy to Ben, act 2

Front 44

A man can end with diamonds on the basis of being liked

Back 44

Willy to Ben, act 2

Front 45

You end up worth more dead than alive

Back 45

Willy to Charley, act 2

Front 46

The woods are burning, boys, you understand? There's a big blaze going on all around

Back 46

Willy to Biff and Happy

Front 47

Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground

Back 47

Willy to himself, act 2

Seeds will never grow. Could link to dreams that will never reach fruition

Front 48

A man has got to add up to something

Back 48

Willy, act 2

Front 49

I am not a dime a dozen!

Back 49

Willy, act 2

Front 50

When I walked into the jungle I was 17. When I walked out I was 21. And by God I was rich

Back 50

Ben

Front 51

What are you building? Lay your hand on it. Where is it?

Back 51

Ben to Willy

Front 52

The jungle is dark but full of diamonds

Back 52

Ben

Front 53

The whoreson must be acknowledged

Back 53

Gloucester to Kent

Act 1 scene 1

Front 54

Tis our fast intent to shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths while we unburdened crawl toward death

Back 54

Lear act 1 scene 1

Use of the royal we

Front 55

Which of you shall we say doth love us most

Back 55

Lear act 1 scene 1

Front 56

I love you more than word can wield the matter, dearer than eyesight, space and liberty

Back 56

Goneril to Lear act 1 scene 1

Reference to the theme of eyesight

She is later the one to suggest removing Gloucester's eyes

Front 57

I profess myself an enemy to all other joys.... I am alone felicitate in your dear highness' love

Back 57

Regan to Lear act 1 scene 1

Front 58

My love's more ponderous (weighty) than my tongue

Back 58

Cordelia Act 1 scene 1

Front 59

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again

Back 59

Lear to cordelia act 1 scene 1

Last part is an order. His pride blinds him from her honourable reply, he thinks she is shaming him in front of the court

Front 60

I cannot have my heart into my mouth

Back 60

Cordelia act 1 scene 1

Front 61

Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity and property of blood

I loved her most and thought to set my rest on her kind nursery

Back 61

Lear act 1 scene 1

Cordelia was his favourite daughter but his mercurial temper caused him to discard her without a second thought

Front 62

Be Kent unmannerly when Lear is mad

To plainness honour's bound when majesty falls to folly

Back 62

Kent to Lear act 1 scene 1

Only character willing to stand up to Lear. Foreshadows L's descent into madness

Front 63

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

Back 63

Kent to Lear act 1 scene 1

Front 64

Better thou hadst not been born than not t'have pleased me better

Back 64

Lear to Cordelia act 1 scene 1

Front 65

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

Back 65

Regan about Lear Act 1 scene 1

Front 66

[Bastards] Who in the lusty stealth of nature take more composition and fierce quality [than legitimate sons]

Back 66

Edmund act 1 scene 2

Believes that his being a bastard makes him stronger than legitimate sons and closer to nature.

Front 67

Edmund the base shall to th'legitimate

Back 67

Edmund act 1 scene 2

Front 68

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

We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and stars, as if we were villains on necessity

Back 68

Gloucester and then Edmund

Opposing views of the celestial and superstition

Front 69

Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit

Back 69

Edmund act 1 scene 2

Front 70

You whoreson dog, you slave, you cur!

Back 70

Lear to Oswald after being called "my lady's father" instead of being given more respect despite the fact that he no longer has power

Front 71

Thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav'st thy golden one away

I am better than thou now: I am a fool, thou art nothing

Back 71

Fool to Lear act 1 scene 4

Front 72

I would you would make use of your good wisdom - whereof I know you are fraught - and put away these dispositions which of late transport you from what you rightly are

Back 72

Goneril to Lear act 1 scene 4

Front 73

Who is it that can tell me who I am?

Lear's shadow

Back 73

Lear and then the fool act 1 scene 4

Front 74

I do beseech you to understand my purposes... be then desired by her that else will take the thing she begs. A little to disquantity your train

This our court... shows like a riotous inn

You strike my people and your disordered rabble make servants of their betters

Back 74

Goneril to Lear act 1 scene 4

Front 75

Degenerate bastard! I'll not trouble the. Yet I have left a daughter

Back 75

Lear to Goneril act 1 scene 4

Denies her reasonable request and disowns yet another daughter

Front 76

Into her womb convey sterility

If she must teem, create her child of spleen... that she may feel how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child

Back 76

Lear to goneril act 1 scene 4

Front 77

Old fond eyes, beweep this cause again, and I'll pluck ye out and cast you

Back 77

Lear act 1 scene 4 foreshadows Gloucester's blinding

Front 78

I did her wrong

Back 78

Lear act 1 scene 5

Ao5 talking about Cordelia or Goneril?

A brief moment of anagnorisis? Continues making the same mistakes afterwards so unlikely

Front 79

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise

Back 79

Fool to Lear act 1 scene 5

Front 80

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

Back 80

Lear act 1 scene 5

Conscious of his own fragile mentality

Front 81

That which finds him shall deserve our thanks, bringing that murderous coward to the stake

Back 81

Gloucester about Edgar act 2 scene 1

Front 82

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

Back 82

Gloucester to Edmund act 2 scene 1

Willing to legitimise him

Front 83

Such smiling rogues as these, like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain

Back 83

Kent about Oswald act 2 scene 2

Sycophants break the bonds of family

Front 84

You.. show too bold malice against the grace and person of my master, stocking his messenger

Back 84

Kent to regan and cornwall act 2 scene 2

Putting the king's messenger in the stocks was the same as putting the king himself in the stocks

A grave insult

Shows that they have no respect for Lear

Front 85

I... am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape that ever penury in contempt of man brought near to beast

Back 85

Edgar act 2 scene 3

Front 86

Tis worse than murder, to do upon respect such violent outrage

Back 86

Lear about Kent being put in the stocks act 2 scene 4

Front 87

Fetch me a better answer

Side note: in this section Gloucester refers to Lear as "my good Lord", but to Cornwall as "my grace", showing that Lear has lost authority

Back 87

Lear to Gloucester act 2 scene 4

Front 88

[She] struck me with her tongue most serpent-like upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on her ungrateful top!

Back 88

Lear to Regan about Goneril act 2 scene 4

Front 89

Thou shalt never have my curse

Thou art [...] a disease that's in my flesh

Back 89

Lear to Regan act 2 scene 4

Front 90

Being weak seem so

Back 90

Regan to Lear act 2 scene 4

Front 91

Allow not nature more than nature needs, man's life is cheap as beasts

Back 91

Lear to G and R act 2 scene 4

Front 92

Let not women's weapons, water drops, stain my man's cheeks!

I will have such revenges on you both, that all the world shall- I will do such things - what they are yet I know not, but they shall be the terrors of the earth!

Back 92

Lear blustering out threats at goneril and regan act 2 scene 4

Front 93

Oh fool, I shall go mad!

Back 93

Lear act 2 scene 4

Front 94

Shut up your doors

Back 94

Regan to Gloucester act 2 scene 4

Locking Lear out in the storm

Front 95

All-shaking thunder, strike flat the thick rotundity o'th'world!

Spit fire! Spout rain!

Back 95

Lear in the storm act 3 scene 2

Front 96

A poor, infirm, weak and despised old man

A head so old and white as this

I am a man more sinned against than sinning

Back 96

Lear in the storm. Accepts no fault, pities himself and sees himself as the victim act 3 scene 2

Front 97

The younger rises when the old doth fall

Back 97

Edmund - plots to reveal Gloucester's plan to help Lear and the letter from Cordelia about France's plans to Cornwall for a reward

Act 3 scene 3

Front 98

The tyranny of the open night's too rough for nature to endure

Back 98

Kent act 3 scene 4

Front 99

How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your lopped and windowed raggedness, defend you from seasons such as these?

Back 99

Lear realising the struggles of the poor act 3 scene 4

Front 100

Nothing could have subdued nature to such a lowness but his unkind daughters

Back 100

Lear believes Tom must be experiencing the same troubles as him. In his mind he is suffering the worst fate of anyone

Act 3 scene 4

Front 101

Thou art the thing itself: unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare forked animal as thou art

Back 101

Lear to Tom (edgar). Sees him as the most natural form of humanity, pure.

Act 3 scene 4

Front 102

As mad as the vexed sea

Back 102

Cordelia about Lear

Act 4 scene 3

Front 103

Is wretchedness deprived that benefit to end itself by death?

Back 103

Gloucester act 4 scene 5

Willing to commit the sin of suicide

Front 104

[They] Told me I had the white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there

Back 104

Lear act 4 scene 5

He has been told since he was young that he was wise and always right

Front 105

They told me I was everything: tis a lie, I am not ague-proof

Back 105

Lear act 4 scene 5

Front 106

Place sins with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks

Arm it in rags,a pigmy's straw does pierce it

Back 106

Lear act 4 scene 5

Front 107

To be acknowledged, madam, is o'erpaid

Back 107

Kent to cordelia act 4 scene 6

Front 108

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.

Your sisters have [...] done me wrong: you have some cause, they have not

Back 108

Lear to Cordelia act 4 scene 6

Front 109

Forget and forgive: I am old and foolish

Back 109

Lear to Cordelia act 4 scene 6

Anagnorisis

Front 110

Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Or neither? Neither can be enjoyed if both remain alive

Back 110

Edmund musing on Goneril and Regan act 5 scene 1

Front 111

Men must endure their coming hence, even as their going hither

Back 111

Edgar to Gloucester. Act 5 scene 2

Front 112

Let's away to prison. We two alone will sing like birds i'th'cage [and] laugh at gilded butterflies

Back 112

Lear to cordelia at 5 scene 3

Front 113

Thou art a traitor: false to thy gods, hey brother and thy father, conspirant against this high illustrious prince, and [...] a most toad-spotted traitor

Back 113

Edgar to Edmund act 5 scene 3

Front 114

The wheel is come full circle

Back 114

Edmund to edgar after their duel

Act 5 scene 3

Front 115

His flawed heart [...] burst smilingly

Back 115

Edgar about Gloucester act 5 scene 3

Front 116

This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble, touches us not with pity

Back 116

Albany about the deaths of regan and goneril

Front 117

Some good I mean to do despite of my own nature

Back 117

Edmund before he tells Kent and Albany of his order for Lear and Cordelia's deaths act 5 scene 3

Front 118

Howl howl howl. O you are men of stones: had I your tongues and eyes I'd use them so that heaven's vault should crack

Back 118

Lear act 5 scene 3

Front 119

I am the very man that from your first of difference and decay have followed your sad steps

Back 119

Kent to Lear act 5 scene 3

Front 120

All friends shall taste the wages of their virtue and all foes the cup of their deservings

Back 120

Albany act 5 scene 3