Coriolanus Famous Quotes

There is a world elsewhere.

Coriolanus's last words before leaving Rome in Act 3, Scene 3, after the tribunes have banished him — five words that turn exile into choice. He is not being expelled; he is departing.

I banish you; And here remain with your uncertainty!

Coriolanus reversing the banishment sentence in Act 3, Scene 3 — he cannot legally banish Rome, but he does so rhetorically, leaving the city with the curse of instability rather than accepting the curse of exile.

You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens.

Coriolanus turning on the Roman citizens in Act 3, Scene 3, before his banishment — the contempt is complete and physical: he hates not just their opinions but their breath. It is the most honest statement of his political views in the play.

What is the city but the people?

Sicinius to the assembled citizens in Act 3, Scene 1 — the tribune's question is the direct democratic challenge to Coriolanus's patrician view of Rome. The citizens confirm it. Coriolanus does not.

The beast With many heads butts me away.

Coriolanus at the gates of Rome in Act 4, Scene 1, as he leaves — the many-headed beast is the Roman mob, and 'butts' makes them livestock. He cannot escape his contempt even in farewell.

You souls of geese, That bear the shapes of men, how have you run From slaves that apes would beat!

Coriolanus to his retreating soldiers in Act 1, Scene 4 — insulting men for fleeing while simultaneously shaming them back into battle. His method of leadership is entirely contempt-based, which is what makes him effective and impossible.

Alone I did it.

Coriolanus in Act 5, Scene 6, responding to Aufidius's accusation that he betrayed the Volscians — the claim is his final act of pride, asserting solo authorship of every military achievement rather than acknowledging the army that fought with him.

Name not the god, thou boy of tears!

Aufidius taunting Coriolanus in Act 5, Scene 6 immediately before his death — 'boy' is the insult that breaks him, because it denies exactly what he has built his identity on. He responds to 'boy' rather than to 'Alone I did it'.

Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part, and I am out, Even to a full disgrace.

Coriolanus in Act 5, Scene 3, realising he cannot continue the siege of Rome after seeing his mother — for the first time in the play he has forgotten what to say, which is a form of mercy and a form of failure simultaneously.

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.

Sicinius to Menenius in Act 2, Scene 1, arguing that even animals recognise allies — the implication is that Coriolanus is below animals in this, having turned on the city that made him.

These are the ushers of Marcius: before him he carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears.

Volumnia describing her son's return in Act 2, Scene 1 — before him, the sound of his coming; behind him, the grief of those he has defeated. She says this with pride, which tells you everything about how she raised him.

Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw, And saving those that eye thee!

Volumnia to Coriolanus in Act 5, Scene 3, at the siege of Rome — a sea-mark is a lighthouse or prominent rock used for navigation. She is asking him to be what he has always been: a fixed point other people steer by.

O, a kiss Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!

Coriolanus greeting Virgilia in Act 5, Scene 3 — the tenderness catches the audience off guard, coming from a man who has spent three acts being armoured and contemptuous. Exile and revenge are his two measures of everything.

I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus Should not be utter'd feebly.

Cominius preparing to address the Senate about Coriolanus in Act 2, Scene 2 — the deeds are too large for ordinary speech. The compliment works because Cominius then proceeds to describe them in considerable detail.

I go alone, Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen.

Coriolanus departing Rome in Act 4, Scene 1 — the dragon in the fen is terrifying because it is mostly unseen. He is choosing solitude and predicting that his absence will generate more fear than his presence did.