Richard III Famous Quotes

Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

Richard's opening soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 1 — he is describing the end of the Wars of the Roses, the triumph of his brother's house of York. The 'sun of York' is a pun on Edward IV ('son'). Richard is not celebrating. He resents peace because it gives him nothing to do.

I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

Richard in Act 1, Scene 1, telling the audience directly what he has decided to do — the self-aware villainy is part of his appeal. He commits to the role and describes his schemes before carrying any of them out.

I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph.

Richard in his opening speech in Act 1, Scene 1, listing all the ways his physical deformity excludes him from the pleasures of peacetime — the speech turns self-pity into a motive for murder.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Was ever woman in this humour won?

Richard aside in Act 1, Scene 2, having just convinced Lady Anne to accept him while she is standing over the corpse of a man he murdered — his disbelief is genuine and his pleasure is real.

Never came poison from so sweet a place.

Richard responding to Lady Anne's curses in Act 1, Scene 2 — he uses her hatred as a compliment, turning her anger into evidence of beauty. It works, which tells you something about both of them.

Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, That I may see my shadow as I pass.

Richard ending the Anne scene in Act 1, Scene 2 — he has just won her hand through entirely cynical means, and his first thought is to see how he looks. The shadow he wants to admire is himself.

So wise so young, they say, do never live long.

Richard aside in Act 3, Scene 1 after young Prince Edward displays unusual intelligence — the aside is a threat, disguised as a proverb, aimed at a child who has no idea he is already sentenced.

Off with his head!

Richard ordering Hastings's immediate execution in Act 3, Scene 4, moments after accusing him of witchcraft — the speed of the sentence is the point. Richard does not deliberate once a decision is made.

I am not in the giving vein to-day.

Richard to Buckingham in Act 4, Scene 2, refusing to reward him — Buckingham helped put Richard on the throne and now comes to collect, only to find that Richard's moods are no longer anyone's to navigate.

I'll have her; but I will not keep her long.

Richard aside in Act 1, Scene 2 after winning Lady Anne — the first clause is triumphant, the second is sinister. He plans to marry her and dispose of her, which he does.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale.

Richard on the eve of Bosworth in Act 5, Scene 3, waking from a nightmare in which the ghosts of everyone he has killed condemned him — for the first time in the play, the self-awareness turns inward without pleasure.

The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom, And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night.

Richard in Act 4, Scene 3, reporting deaths he has arranged with the detached calm of an administrator — the biblical phrase 'Abraham's bosom' means heaven, which Richard uses without irony for people he had murdered.

Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.

Richard alone in Act 5, Scene 3 after the nightmares, trying to reassemble his sense of self — the declaration that he loves himself is the only love he has left, and it does not reassure him.

True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings: Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

Richmond (the future Henry VII) rallying his forces in Act 5, Scene 2 before Bosworth — a direct contrast to Richard's dread-filled night. Richmond believes his cause is just, and the play endorses this without ambiguity.

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Richard in Act 5, Scene 4 after his horse has been killed in the Battle of Bosworth, fighting on foot — the man who treated human lives as expendable currency now prices his throne at a single animal.