The Taming of the Shrew Quotes

“My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Sit by my side, and let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“There's small choice in rotten apples.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.
Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruchio: My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.
Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail.
Katherine: In his tongue.
Petruchio: Whose tongue?
Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.
Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance; commits his body
To painful labor, both by sea and land;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou li’st warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And no obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I asham’d that women are so simple
‘To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“I see a woman may be made a fool,
If she had not a spirit to resist.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en.
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“If she and I be pleased, what's that to you?”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Say she rail; why, I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.
Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly wash'd with dew.
Say she be mute and will not speak a word;
Then I'll commend her volubility,
and say she uttereth piercing eloquence.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“She moves me not, or not removes at least affection's edge in me.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“The poorest service is repaid with thanks.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Why, that is nothing: for I tell you, father,
I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
And where two raging fires meet together
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:
So I to her and so she yields to me;
For I am rough and woo not like a babe.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Better once than never, for never too late.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordinance in the field,
And Heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard
Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.
Grumio: For he fears none.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please.
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again,
Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“We will have rings and things and fine array”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Tis hatched and shall be so”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Ay, to the proof, as mountains are for winds, that shakes not, though they blow perpetually.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“too much sadness hath congealed your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“For I am born to tame you, Kate,
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
Comfortable as other household Kates.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“I read that I profess, the Art of Love.
Bianca: And may you prove, sir, master of your art!
Lucentio: While you, sweet dear, prove mistress of my heart!”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks
As though she bid me stay by her a week.
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak. 'Tis charity to show.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life, and, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“And woo her with some spirit when she comes. Say that she rail; why, then, I'll tell her plain, she sings as sweetly as a nightingail: Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear As morning roses newly washt with dew: Say she be mute and will not speak a word; Then I'll commend her volubility, And say she uttereth piercing eloquence: If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks, As though she bid me stay by her a week: If she deny to be wed, I'll crave the day When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“I am agreed, and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her”
― William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew