The Winter's Tale Famous Quotes

Exit, pursued by a bear.

The most famous stage direction in Shakespeare, describing Antigonus's death in Act 3, Scene 3 — he has just abandoned the infant Perdita on the Bohemian coast. The bear solves the problem of what to do with a character who has committed an irrevocable act.

A sad tale's best for winter: I have one Of sprites and goblins.

Mamillius to his mother Hermione in Act 2, Scene 1, about to tell a winter's tale — he will not finish it. The line gives the play its title and establishes the play's genre (a dark story that may end well) before the tragedy begins.

A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.

Autolycus describing his former life in Act 4, Scene 3 — 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles' is one of the most elegant self-descriptions of a petty thief in any language, and Autolycus delivers it with complete satisfaction.

I am a feather for each wind that blows.

Leontes in Act 2, Scene 3, in the grip of jealousy — he recognises that he cannot control his own impulses but does not stop acting on them. The image of a feather blown by every wind is also a confession of having no fixed centre.

What's gone and what's past help Should be past grief.

Paulina to Leontes and the court in Act 3, Scene 2, after the trial — she then immediately lists everything that is past help, which contradicts the instruction. Her point is not that grief is wrong but that it must be proportionate to what caused it.

The art itself is nature.

Polixenes to Perdita in Act 4, Scene 4, arguing that grafted flowers are as natural as wild ones because the art of grafting is itself human nature at work — a position that becomes ironic when he opposes Florizel's 'grafting' into a shepherd's family.

Ha, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman!

Autolycus in Act 4, Scene 4, having just robbed the Shepherd's son while the man helped him — he addresses Honesty and Trust as characters, laughing at people who have these qualities.

When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh! the doxy over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year.

Autolycus's entrance song in Act 4, Scene 3 — a spring song for a man whose business is theft, establishing that Bohemia is a different world from Sicily's tragedy. A 'doxy' is a beggar's girlfriend.

These your unusual weeds to each part of you Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora Peering in April's front.

Florizel to Perdita in Act 4, Scene 4, at the sheep-shearing festival — she is dressed in her best clothes rather than royally, and he sees Flora (the goddess of spring) rather than a shepherd girl. His perception turns out to be more accurate than he knows.

The fairest flowers o' the season Are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors, Which some call nature's bastards.

Perdita at the sheep-shearing festival in Act 4, Scene 4, distributing flowers by age and season — she calls grafted flowers 'nature's bastards', unaware that she herself is a princess raised as a shepherd girl.

O, she's warm! If this be magic, let it be an art Lawful as eating.

Leontes touching the statue of Hermione in Act 5, Scene 3 and discovering she is alive — warmth as proof of life. The comparison of magic to eating suggests how natural this feels despite being impossible.

It is required You do awake your faith.

Paulina before the statue comes to life in Act 5, Scene 3 — she asks the audience and the characters for the specific kind of belief that allows the impossible to happen. It is the closest the play comes to explaining its own genre.

The oracle is fulfilled: the king's daughter is found.

A gentleman reporting the recognition scene in Act 5, Scene 2 — the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, ignored by Leontes in Act 3, has come true in full. The reporting style (rather than showing the scene) deliberately keeps the audience at a remove from it.

Come on, poor babe: Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens To be thy nurses!

Antigonus leaving the infant Perdita in Act 2, Scene 3 — he is carrying out Leontes's order to abandon a child he believes is illegitimate, and he knows he may be killing her. His prayer to the kites and ravens is the only kindness he can offer.

I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest.

The old Shepherd in Act 3, Scene 3, before he finds Perdita — complaining about young men who do nothing but get girls pregnant, fight, and steal. He is about to discover a more direct connection to the problem than he expects.