GLOUCESTER: My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind
That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.
2 Henry VI, II, i
KING HENRY VI: How irksome is this music to my heart!
When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
2 Henry VI, II, i
GLOUCESTER: Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud;
And after summer evermore succeeds
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold:
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet.
2 Henry VI, II, iv
QUEEN MARGARET: Small curs are not regarded when they grin;
But great men tremble when the lion roars.
2 Henry VI, III, i
YORK: Show me one scar character'd on thy skin:
Men's flesh preserved so whole do seldom win.
2 Henry VI, III, i
WARWICK: Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh
And sees fast by a butcher with an axe,
But will suspect 'twas he that made the slaughter?
2 Henry VI, III, ii
SUFFOLK: Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan,
I would invent as bitter-searching terms,
As curst, as harsh and horrible to hear,
Deliver'd strongly through my fixed teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave.
2 Henry VI, III, ii
SUFFOLK: I can no more: live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in nought but that thou livest.
2 Henry VI, III, ii
CADE: Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony to drink small beer.
2 Henry VI, IV, ii
DICK: The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
2 Henry VI, IV, ii
CADE: Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since.
2 Henry VI, IV, ii
SMITH: The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read and cast accompt.
CADE: O monstrous!
2 Henry VI, IV, ii
BUCKINGHAM: Trust nobody, for fear you be betray'd.
2 Henry VI, IV, v
CADE: Be it known unto thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.
2 Henry VI, IV, vii
CADE: Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude?
2 Henry VI, IV, ix
RICHARD: Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still:
Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
2 Henry VI, V, ii
YORK: In them I trust; for they are soldiers,
Witty, courteous, liberal, full of spirit.
3 Henry VI, I, ii
RUTLAND: So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch
That trembles under his devouring paws;
And so he walks, insulting o'er his prey,
And so he comes, to rend his limbs asunder.
3 Henry VI, I, iii
YORK: O tiger's heart wrapt in a woman's hide!
3 Henry VI, I, iv
EDWARD: Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?
RICHARD: Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
Not separated with the racking clouds,
But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky.
See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
As if they vow'd some league inviolable:
Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.
In this the heaven figures some event.
3 Henry VI, II, i
RICHARD: To weep is to make less the depth of grief:
Tears then for babes; blows and revenge for me.
3 Henry VI, II, i
CLIFFORD: The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on.
3 Henry VI, II, ii
KING HENRY VI: O God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live.
3 Henry VI, II, v
KING HENRY VI: When this is known, then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I contemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself;
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean:
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
3 Henry VI, II, v
SON: Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
3 Henry VI, II, v
KING HENRY VI: O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!
Whiles lions war and battle for their dens,
Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.
3 Henry VI, II, v
KING HENRY VI: My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content:
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
3 Henry VI, III, i
KING HENRY VI: Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust;
Such is the lightness of you common men.
3 Henry VI, III, ii
GLOUCESTER: Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart,
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occasions.
3 Henry VI, III, ii
GLOUCESTER: I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
3 Henry VI, III, ii
KING EDWARD IV: Though fortune's malice overthrow my state,
My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel.
3 Henry VI, IV, iii