Much Ado About Nothing Famous Quotes

Kill Claudio.

Beatrice to Benedick in Act 4, Scene 1, immediately after the public shaming of Hero — the two shortest words in the play, spoken after Hero collapses, cutting through five acts of wit into absolute directness.

I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.

Beatrice to Benedick in Act 4, Scene 1, in the immediate aftermath of Hero's public humiliation — the first time she abandons wordplay and says something plain. The play earns this moment precisely because of everything that came before it.

I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.

Beatrice in Act 1, Scene 1, explaining to Leonato why she does not want to marry — a position she holds with complete conviction until the end of Act 3. The dog-and-crow comparison is not an insult to men; it is a genuine preference.

There was a star danced, and under that was I born.

Beatrice in Act 2, Scene 1, explaining why she is merry — she was born under a dancing star, therefore joy is constitutional rather than chosen. It is the most self-knowing description she gives of herself.

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea and one on shore.

Balthasar's song in Act 2, Scene 3 — Don Pedro has asked for a song, and the content turns out to be a warning about male faithlessness, sung in a garden where men are busy conspiring to manipulate people into love.

She speaks poniards, and every word stabs.

Benedick to Don Pedro in Act 2, Scene 1, describing Beatrice after a bout of sparring with her — a poniard is a dagger. His complaint is that her wit is lethal, which is also his highest compliment.

I am a villain; if I do not love her, I am a Jew.

Benedick's aside in Act 2, Scene 3, having been tricked into believing Beatrice loves him — he swears his return of feeling in the most emphatic terms available to him, including the contemporary slur the play uses casually.

When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.

Benedick in Act 2, Scene 3, reasoning himself towards Beatrice — the line is a joke about the gap between the self he planned to be and the self he is becoming, delivered by a man who is pleased about the gap.

I am a plain-dealing villain.

Don John to Conrade in Act 1, Scene 3 — the play's antagonist introducing himself. He is not witty like Benedick and Beatrice, and his solution to that disadvantage is to be a different kind of threat.

I cannot endure my Lady Tongue.

Benedick to Don Pedro in Act 2, Scene 1, exiting the conversation with Beatrice — the complaint is theatrical. A man who truly could not endure her would not seek her out in every scene.

He were an excellent man that were made just in the midway between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image and says nothing, and the other too like my lady's eldest son.

Beatrice describing the ideal man to Leonato in Act 2, Scene 1 — her complaint about Benedick (too much talk) and her alternative (too little talk) reveals exactly what she actually wants.

For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.

Benedick in Act 5, Scene 4 after being caught out in his earlier anti-marriage declarations — the conclusion he draws from his own change of heart is that human beings are unreliable. It is also the play's conclusion.

Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not suspect my years?

Dogberry in Act 4, Scene 2, outraged that he has not been written down as an ass — he means 'respect' when he says 'suspect', and the gap between what he says and means is the engine of every scene he is in.

O, she misused me past the endurance of a block! An oak but with one green leaf on it would have answered her.

Benedick to Don Pedro in Act 2, Scene 1, complaining about Beatrice — the oak-with-one-green-leaf is his image for the least-responsive possible audience, and he is saying that even that would have been better than his position.

'Benedick the married man.'

Benedick quoting his own future nickname in Act 1, Scene 1 — he imagines how men will speak of him if he ever marries, as a cautionary joke. By Act 5 it has happened exactly as he predicted.