Macbeth Famous Quotes

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time.

Macbeth receives news of Lady Macbeth's death in Act 5, Scene 5 and responds not with grief but with a speech of total emptiness — he has already burned through everything he could feel.

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

Macbeth alone before Duncan's murder in Act 2, Scene 1, seeing a dagger in the air pointing toward the king's chamber — his mind already fracturing before the act is committed.

Out, damned spot! out, I say!

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking in Act 5, Scene 1, obsessively washing her hands — the guilt she dismissed as weakness in Act 1 has dismantled her mind by Act 5.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Three witches chant over their cauldron in Act 4, Scene 1 as they prepare the prophecies that will bring Macbeth to his ruin.

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

Opening chant of the three witches in Act 1, Scene 1, establishing the play's central logic — appearances will deceive, and Macbeth will discover this too late.

What's done cannot be undone.

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking in Act 5, Scene 1, repeating words she first spoke to comfort Macbeth in Act 3 — they have become her confession.

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.

Macbeth after learning of Lady Macbeth's death in Act 5, Scene 5 — the man who murdered for kingship has concluded that life itself was not worth the price.

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

Macbeth's private aside in Act 1, Scene 4 after Duncan names Malcolm his heir — the moment he decides that ambition must proceed without scruple.

Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.

Lady Macbeth alone in Act 1, Scene 5, calling on spirits to strip away feminine compassion so she can drive the murder that Macbeth lacks the cruelty to commit himself.

Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.

Lady Macbeth reading Macbeth's letter in Act 1, Scene 5, diagnosing his character — his ambition is real, but his conscience will get in the way.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Macbeth's closing couplet to Act 1, Scene 7 after Lady Macbeth persuades him back to the plan — one line that encapsulates everything the play does to the idea of integrity.

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.

Second Witch's couplet in Act 4, Scene 1, spoken seconds before Macbeth walks in to consult them a second time — the audience knows he is coming; the witches seem to know it too.

Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.'

Macbeth immediately after killing Duncan in Act 2, Scene 2, convinced he heard a voice condemn him — sleep is both the literal and symbolic version of the innocence he has permanently forfeited.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking in Act 5, Scene 1 — the smell of Duncan's blood has become part of her, and no physical remedy can reach what she has done.

Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't.

Lady Macbeth instructing Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5 on how to deceive their guests — the serpent-beneath-the-flower image captures her approach to the entire play.