King Lear Quote Identification Quiz

“Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”

“Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, and thou no breath at all?”

“Fortune, good night: smile once more; turn thy wheel.”

“The worst is not so long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’”

“The wheel is come full circle; I am here.”

“Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.”

“When thou clovest thy crown i’ the middle and gav’st away both parts.”

“Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest.”

“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.”

“O, reason not the need!”

“The younger rises when the old doth fall.”

“Men must endure their going hence even as their coming hither.”

“Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?”

“Nothing will come of nothing.”

“Come not between the dragon and his wrath.”

“See better, Lear; and let me still remain the true blank of thine eye.”

“I am a man more sinned against than sinning.”

“The weight of this sad time we must obey.”

“O sir, to wilful men, the injuries that they themselves procure must be their schoolmasters.”

“I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw.”

“When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.”

“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”

“O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!”

“The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us.”

“The art of our necessities is strange and can make vile things precious.”

“The prince of darkness is a gentleman.”

“Nothing almost sees miracles but misery.”

“Wilt break my heart?”

“When majesty falls to folly.”

“Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law my services are bound.”