King Richard II: Quotes
(par Laurence aka Lawrz sur le forum)
Act 1, scene 1 :
Face to face,
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser and the accused freely speak.
High-stomached are they both and full of ire,
In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. (King Richard, ll.15-19)
for what I speak
My body shall make good uppon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven (Bolingbroke, ll.36-38)
With a foul traitor’s name stuff I thy throat (Bolingbroke, l.44)
That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester’s death (Bolingbroke, l.100)
Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me (King Richard, l.152)
Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed (King Richard, l.156)
Act 1, scene 2:
But since correction lieth in those hands
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven (Gaunt, ll.4-6)
Edward’s seven sons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven vials of his sacred blood
God’s is the quarrel, for God’s substitute,
His deputy annointed in His sight,
Hath caused his death, the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge, for I may never lift
An angry arm against His minister. (Gaunt, ll.37-41)
Act 1, scene 3:
Draw near,
And list what with our council we have done.
For that our kingdom’s earth should not be soiled
With that dear blood which it hath fostered
[...]
Therefore we banish you our territories. (King Richard, ll.123-126, 139).
Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,
Which I with some unwillingness pronounce:
The sly slow hours shall not determinate
The dateless limit of thy dear exile.
The hopeless word of ‘never to return’
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life. (King Richard, ll.148-153)
The language I have learnt these forty years,
My native English, now I must forgo,
And now my tongue’s use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or harp
[...]
What is thy sentence then but speechless death (Mowbray, ll.159-162, 172)
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. (Bolingbroke, ll.213-215)
But not a minute, King, that thou canst give (Gaunt, l.226)
Think not the King did banish thee,
But thou the King. (Gaunt, ll.279-280)
Act 1, scene 4:
Marry, would the word ‘farewell’ have lengthened hours
And added years to his short banishment
He should have had a volume of farewells,
But since it would not, he had none of me (Aumerle, ll.16-19)
Ourselves and Bushy, Bagot here and Green
Observed his courtship to the common people (King Richard, ll.23-24)
Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind
To help him to his grave immediately!
The lining of his coffers shall make coats
To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.
Come, gentlemn, let’s all go visit him.
Pray God we may make haste and come too late! (King Richard, ll.59-64)
Act 2, scene 1:
O but they say the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention like deep harmony,
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. (Gaunt, ll.5-8)
Though Richard my life’s counsel would not hear,
My death’s sad tale may yet undeaf his ear. (Gaunt, ll.15-16)
Methinks I am a prophet new inspired (Gaunt, l.31)
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise (Gaunt, ll.41-43)
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave,
Whose hollow womb inherits naught but bones (Gaunt, ll.82-83)
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,
I mock my name, great King, to flatter thee. (Gaunt, ll.86-87)
O no, thou diest, though I the sicker be. (Gaunt, l.91)
Landlord of England art thou now, not king. (l.113)
His tongue is now a stringless instrument (Northumberland, l.149)
His hands were guilty of no kindred blood (York, l.182)
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head (York, l.205)
Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead
And living too, for now his son is duke (Northumberland / Ross, ll.224-225)
The King is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers (Northumberland, ll.241-242)
Act 2, scene 2:
Yet again, methinks,
Some unborn sorrow, ripe in Fortune’s womb,
Is coming towards me, and my inward soul
With mothing trembles (Queen, ll.9-12)
Both are my kinsmen.
Th’one is my sovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend; th’other again
Is my kinsman, whom the King hath wronged,
Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right. (York, ll.111-115)
Act 2, scene 3:
My lord, my answer is –to ‘Lancaster’,
And I am come to seek that name in England;
And I must find that title in your tongue
Before I make reply to aught you say. (Bolingbroke, ll.70-73)
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.
I am no traitor’s uncle, and that word ‘grace’
In an ungracious mouth is but profane. (York, ll.87-89)
As I was banished, I was banished Hereford;
But as I come, I come for Lancaster. (Bolingbroke, ll.113-114)
I do remain as neuter. (York, l.159)
By Bushy? Baggot and their complices,
The caterpillars of the Commonwealth,
Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away. (Bolingbroke, ll.165-167)
Act 2, scene 4:
‘Tis thought the King is dead. (Captain, l.7)
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
[...]
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings (Captain, l.10/15)
Act 3, scene 1:
I will unfold some causes of your deaths:
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments (Bolingbroke, ll.7-9)
Act 3, scene 2:
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an annointed king;
The breath of wordly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord. (King Richard, ll.54-57)
I had forgot myself. Am I not king? (King Richard, l.83)
Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas! (King Richard, l.132)
For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings-
[...]
All murdered. For within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court; (ll.160-162)
Act 3, scene 3:
For well we know that no hand of blood and bone
Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre,
Unless he do profane, steal or usurp. (King Richard, ll.79-81)
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? I’God’s name, let it go.
I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman’s gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
My sceptre for a pair of carved saints
And my large kingdom for a little grave,
A little, little grave, an obscure grave;
Or I’ll be buried in the King’s highway (King Richard, ll.143-155)
Act 3, scene 4:
[The weeds] Are plucked up, root and all, by Bolingbroke. (Gardener, l.52)
Their fortunes both are weighed (Gardener, l.84)
Act 4, scene 1:
In God’s name I’ll ascend the regal throne (Bolingbroke, l.114)
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here that is not Richard’s subject? (Carlisle, l.122-123)
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act (Carlisle, ll.138-139)
So Judas did to Christ, but He in twelve
Found truth in all but one, I, in twelve thousand, none. (King Richard, ll.171-172)
Now this golden crown like a deep well
That owes two buckets, filling one another,
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen and full of water.
That bucket down and full of tears am I,
Drinking my griefs whilst you mount up on high. (King Richard, ll.184-189)
Ay, no. No, ay; [...]
Now mark me how I will undo myself:
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unweidly sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With own breath release all duteous oaths. (King Richard, ll.201 / 203-210)
yet you Pilates
have delivered me to my sour cross,
and water cannot wash away your sin. (King Richard, ll.240-242)
I find myself a traitor with the rest (King Richard, l.248)
For when I was a king, my flatterers
Were then but subjects. Being now a subject,
I have a king here to my flatterer. (King Richard, ll.306-308)
Act 5, scene 1:
He shall think that thou, which knowst the way
To plant unrightful kings (King Richard, ll.62-63)
Act 5, scene 2:
As in a theatre the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage (York, ll.23-25)
Act 5, scene 3:
Intended or committed was this fault? (King Henry, l.32)
Our scene is altered from a serious thing,
And now changed to ‘The Beggar and the King’ (King Henry, ll.78-79)
Act 5, scene 4:
Didst thou not mark the King, what words he spake:
‘Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?’
Was it not so? (Exton, ll.1-3)
Act 5, scene 5:
Thus play I in one person many people (King Richard, l.31)
I wasted time, and now doth Time waste me (King Richard, l.49)
Exton, thy fierce hand
Hath with the King’s blood stained the King’s own land (King Richard,
ll.109-110)
Act 5, scene 6:
Though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murdered. (King Henry, ll.39-40)
Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe
That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow (King Henry, ll.45-46)