50 Famous William Shakespeare Quotes From Macbeth

50 Famous William Shakespeare Quotes From Macbeth

Last updated on December 27th, 2023 at 11:18 am

โ€œMacbeth meets the three witches; scene from Shakespeareโ€™s โ€˜Mโ€œ, by Wellcome Images, is licensed under CC-BY-4.0

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He has become the most famous and influential author in English literature. Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worldโ€™s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englandโ€™s national poet and nicknamed the Bard of Avon. Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. Shakespeareโ€™s writing developed and evolved throughout his career. Scholars often divide his work into periods based on different aspects of his writing style.

He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in โ€œperfect healthโ€. In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna. Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. He retired from writing in 1613 and died three years later at the age of fifty-two. Most of his works were published posthumously in 1623. Shakespeareโ€™s plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

Macbeth Quotes

โ€œThe color of the king doth come and go,

Between his purpose and his conscience,

Like heralds โ€˜twixt two dreadful battles set:

His passion is so ripe, it needs must break.โ€

The Plays and Poems of Shakspeare: Macbeth. King John. Richard the Second (ed. 1833)

โ€œThou canst not say I did it: never shake

Thy gory locks at me.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 50

โ€œBut now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in

To saucy doubts and fears.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 24

โ€œDouble, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 4, sc. 1, l. 10
โ€œTo be thus is nothing; But to be safely thus.โ€

โ€œNow good digestion wait on appetite,

And health on both!โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 38

โ€œMacbeth: What is the night?

Lady Macbeth: Almost at odds with morning, which is which.โ€

Macbeth, III, iv, 126

โ€œTo show an unfelt sorrow is an office

Which the false man does easy.โ€

Macbeth, II, iii, 143

โ€œIf chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.โ€

Macbeth (1606), I, iii, 143
โ€œWho can be wise, amazโ€™d, temperate and furious, loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man.โ€

โ€œPour the sweet milk of concord into hell,

Uproar the universal peace, confound

All unity on earth.โ€

Macbeth, IV, iii, 98

โ€œBring me no more reports; let them fly all:

Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane

I cannot taint with fear.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 1

โ€œHang out our banners on the outward walls;

The cry is still, โ€œThey comeโ€; our castleโ€™s strength Will laugh a siege to scorn.โ€

Macbeth, V, v, 1

โ€œMacduff was from his motherโ€™s womb Untimely rippโ€™d.โ€

Macbeth, V, vii, 44
โ€œThey have tied me to the stake, I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course.โ€

โ€œMy fell of hair

Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir

As life were in โ€˜t. I have suppโ€™d full with horrors.โ€

Macbeth, V v, 11

โ€œThou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear The very stones prate of my whereabout.โ€

Macbeth, II, i, 56

โ€œIt was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman,

Which gives the sternโ€™st good-night.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 4

โ€œCome to my womanโ€™s breasts,

And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [47]
โ€œAway, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.โ€

โ€œAnd to be king

Stands not within the prospect of belief.โ€

Macbeth (1606), I, iii, 73

โ€œOr have we eaten on the insane root

That takes the reason prisoner?โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 84

โ€œYet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [42]

โ€œThe bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 62
โ€œWhy should I play the Roman fool; and die on mine own sword?โ€

โ€œTill he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps,

And fixed his head upon our battlements.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 2, l. 22

โ€œShow his eyes, and grieve his heart;

Come like shadows, so depart.โ€

Macbeth, IV, i, 110

โ€œYour face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [63]

โ€œMerciful powers!

Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose.โ€

Macbeth, II, i, 7
โ€œGive sorrow words: the grief that does not speak whispers the oโ€™er-fraught heart, and bids it break.โ€

โ€œSo weary with disasters, tuggโ€™d with fortune, That I would set my life on any chance, To mend it or be rid onโ€™t.โ€

Macbeth, III, i, 112

โ€œThe attempt and not the deed Confounds us.โ€

Macbeth, II, ii, 12

โ€œNow spurs the lated traveler apace

To gain the timely inn.โ€

Macbeth, III, iii, 6

โ€œI drink to the general joy of the whole table.โ€

Macbeth, III, iv, 89
โ€œI dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none.โ€

โ€œThe devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!

Where gottโ€™st thou that goose look?โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 11

โ€œThe devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!

Where gottโ€™st thou that goose look?โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 3, l. 11

โ€œAngels are bright still, though the brightest fell.โ€

Macbeth, IV, iii, 22

โ€œI am in blood

Steppโ€™d in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go oโ€™er.โ€

Macbeth, III, iv, 136
โ€œCome what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.โ€

โ€œLay on, Macduff;

And damned be him that first cries, โ€˜Hold, enough!โ€™โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 5, sc. 7, l. 62

โ€œThe earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them.โ€

Macbeth (1606), I, iii, 79

โ€œBloody instructions, which, being taught, return,

To plague the inventor.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 9

โ€œHad he not resembled

My father as he slept I had doneโ€™t.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 14
โ€œHis flight was madness: when our actions do not, our fears do make us traitors.โ€

โ€œTwo truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the imperial theme.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 127

โ€œThereโ€™s husbandry in heaven;

Their candles are all out.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 4

โ€œWhat! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?โ€

Macbeth, IV, i, 117

โ€œFair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.โ€

Macbeth (1606) act 1, sc. 1, l. 11
โ€œLook like the innocent flower, but be the serpent underโ€™t.โ€

If you liked our selection of William Shakespeare quotes from Macbeth, then perhaps you would also enjoy our collection of 50 Amazing William Shakespeare Quotes from Hamlet.

Sahil Sangidwar is a marketer who studied computer science. He loves marketing and keeps up with the changing tech world. Outside of work, he plays Battle Royale games, reads books, and really enjoys food. Sahil brings together his interest in technology and his personal hobbies.

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