Macbeth Motif Quotes

• I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

  William Shakespeare

  Blood, Lady Macbeth, Guilt

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 136

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?

  William Shakespeare

  Character, Hands, Play

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 33

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.

  William Shakespeare

  Blood, Important Macbeth, Nature Of Evil

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 122

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.

  William Shakespeare

  Ocean, Blood, Hands

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 61

  56 Copy quote

  Show source

• Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Halloween, Dark

  William Shakespeare, Isaac Reed, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (1817). “The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Dr. Johnson, G. Steevens, and Others”, p.279

  43 Copy quote

  Show source

• My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Hands, Color

  William Shakespeare (2005). “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, p.30, 1st World Publishing

  30 Copy quote

  Show source

• Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through fog and filthy air.

  William Shakespeare

  Fog, Air, Hovering

  William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, Nicholas Rowe (1723). “The works of Shakespear: In six volumes”, p.517

  114 Copy quote

  Show source

• You lack the season of all natures, sleep.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Insomnia, Macbeth Theme

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 141

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
  Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
  Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
  The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
  Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
  Chief nourisher in life's feast...

  William Shakespeare

  Hurt, Sleep, Insomnia

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 36

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• The instruments of darkness tell us truths.

  William Shakespeare

  Sad, Truth, Darkness

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 123

  32 Copy quote

  Show source

• Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.

  William Shakespeare

  Flower, Advice, Lady Macbeth

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

  64 Copy quote

  Show source

• Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? - Lady Macbeth

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Blood, Hands

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [38]

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

  William Shakespeare

  Memorable, Heart, Lady Macbeth

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 82

  87 Copy quote

  Show source

• A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching!

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Benefits, Effects

  William Shakespeare (2015). “Macbeth: Third Series”, p.271, Bloomsbury Publishing

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
  Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
  In the affliction of these terrible dreams
  That shake us nightly.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Fear, Sleep

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 11

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor.

  William Shakespeare

  Return, Taught, Important Macbeth

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

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

  William Shakespeare

  Important Macbeth, Foul, Darkness In Macbeth

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 3, l. 38

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more, is none

  William Shakespeare

  Courage, Peace, Men

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 46

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand! Oh, oh, oh!

  William Shakespeare

  Hands, Lady Macbeth, Guilt

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [55]

  88 Copy quote

  Show source

• Is this a dagger which I see before me,
  The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
  I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
  Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
  To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
  A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
  Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Memorable, Sight

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 33

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Out, damned spot! out, I say! One: two: why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky!

  William Shakespeare

  Time, Hands, Two

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [38]

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow.

  William Shakespeare

  Futility Of Life, Play, Life And Death

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 5, l. 16

  95 Copy quote

  Show source

• Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Brain, Mind

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 1, l. 33

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness.

  William Shakespeare

  Kindness, Play, Lady Macbeth

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [16]

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Death, Play

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 5, l. 16

  98 Copy quote

  Show source