Othello Famous Quotes

I am not what I am.

Iago's first self-definition in Act 1, Scene 1, spoken to Roderigo — a signal to the audience that everything he presents is a performance.

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

Iago planting the seed of suspicion in Othello's mind in Act 3, Scene 3 — he names jealousy a monster while deploying it as his primary weapon.

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.

Othello's final speech in Act 5, Scene 2, asking those who will report these events to see him clearly — a man trying to control his own story seconds before he ends it.

She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them.

Othello explaining to the Venetian Senate in Act 1, Scene 3 how Desdemona fell in love with him — his stories of adventure were his courtship, which makes Iago's lie about her far crueller.

Put out the light, and then put out the light.

Othello alone with the sleeping Desdemona in Act 5, Scene 2 before he kills her — equating snuffing a candle with ending her life, and noting that unlike a flame she cannot be relit.

I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Iago telling Roderigo in Act 1, Scene 1 that he will pretend loyalty to Othello while serving only himself — the phrase has entered common speech to mean the exact opposite of what Iago intends.

Men should be what they seem.

Iago in Act 3, Scene 3 presenting himself as a plain-dealer who could not possibly have ulterior motives — the most brazen lie in a play built entirely on lying.

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving.

Iago consoling Cassio after the brawl in Act 2, Scene 3, arguing that reputation is meaningless — the same Iago who will destroy Othello by attacking his wife's reputation.

Who steals my purse steals trash.

Iago's speech to Othello in Act 3, Scene 3, ostensibly defending him while actually preparing him to fear the loss of exactly what Iago claims doesn't matter.

Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well.

Othello's self-assessment in his final speech in Act 5, Scene 2 — whether this is genuine self-knowledge or a last act of self-justification is what the play leaves open.

Demand me nothing: what you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word.

Iago's last lines in Act 5, Scene 2 — wounded, unmasked, and brought down, he refuses to explain himself, choosing silence as his final act of control.

Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.

Othello to the men who draw weapons when Brabantio confronts him in Act 1, Scene 2 — authority expressed through complete calm rather than force.

Yet I'll not shed her blood, nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow.

Othello before he kills Desdemona in Act 5, Scene 2, unwilling to mark her visually even as he ends her life — the contradiction that defines his tragedy.

The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.

Duke of Venice consoling Brabantio in Act 1, Scene 3 — political wisdom offered to a man whose daughter has just eloped without his consent.

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls.

Iago introducing the subject of reputation in Act 3, Scene 3 before he destroys Othello's by attacking Desdemona's — the gap between what Iago says and what he does is the engine of the whole play.

I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

Iago wakes Brabantio in the night to tell him his daughter has run off with Othello, using deliberately crude and racist language to enrage him. It is the first time in the play he poisons someone's mind with words alone.

I follow him to serve my turn upon him.

Iago tells Roderigo that his shows of loyal service to Othello are a performance. He follows his general only so he can work against him from the inside.

I hate the Moor: and it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets he has done my office.

Alone at the end of Act 1, Iago gives a reason for his hatred: a rumour that Othello has slept with his wife. He admits he does not know whether it is true, and across the play he offers several different motives, none of which fully explains what he does.

Put money in thy purse.

Iago repeats this line to Roderigo while conning him out of his money with a promise to help him win Desdemona. The refrain shows how easily he plays on what other people want.

Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.

Once Iago has planted the idea that Desdemona is unfaithful, he notes that tiny scraps of so-called proof will now look convincing to a jealous mind. Desdemona's dropped handkerchief is about to become exactly that.

O, now, for ever farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!

Othello has started to believe Iago's lie, and here he feels his old life slipping away. He says goodbye to the soldier's world that gave him his sense of self, ending 'Othello's occupation's gone.'

Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

Cassio has just lost his post as lieutenant after a drunken brawl that Iago set up. His grief is entirely about his ruined name. Iago comforts him by saying reputation means nothing, the opposite of what Iago later tells Othello about a good name.

Let husbands know their wives have sense like them: they see and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour, as husbands have.

Getting ready for bed, Emilia argues that wives feel desire and hurt just as husbands do, and that men who mistreat them are to blame. Many readers see this as one of the sharpest challenges to a double standard in Shakespeare, though that is interpretation rather than stated fact.

O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil!

Standing over the murdered Desdemona, Emilia refuses to be silenced. She calls Desdemona angelic and Othello a devil, and she keeps speaking even when it costs her her life.

She has deceived her father, and may thee.

Brabantio's parting shot at Othello after losing the argument in the Senate. Iago later feeds the same idea back to Othello to make him doubt Desdemona, which is part of why the warning matters.

I do perceive here a divided duty.

Asked in open court where her loyalty lies, Desdemona answers plainly. She owes love to her father, but her duty now belongs to her husband. It is a calm and confident speech from a character often treated only as a victim.

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.

Othello enters Desdemona's bedroom to kill her and tries to cast it to himself as justice rather than jealousy. He will not say the word for what she is supposed to have done. Many readers see him performing a role to make the murder bearable, which is interpretation, not record.

Haply, for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have.

As doubt takes hold, Othello lists reasons Desdemona might turn from him, beginning with his race and his age. The moment shows how Iago's suggestions work on Othello's own insecurities.