Merchant of Venice
Quotes from Merchant of Venice
Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand
Read the QuotePortia
Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand
That you yet know not of. We’ll see our husbands
Before they think of us.
Nerissa
Shall they see us?
Portia
They shall, Nerissa, but in such a habit
That they shall think we are accomplishèd
With that we lack.
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How every fool can play upon the word!
Read the QuoteHow every fool can play upon the word! I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots.
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O dear discretion, how his words are suited!
Read the QuoteLorenzo
O dear discretion, how his words are suited!
The fool hath planted in his memory
An army of good words, and I do know
A many fools that stand in better place,
Garnished like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter.
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It is very meet The Lord Bassanio live an upright life
Read the QuoteIt is very meet
The Lord Bassanio live an upright life,
For having such a blessing in his lady
He finds the joys of heaven here on Earth,
And if on Earth he do not merit it,
In reason he should never come to heaven.
Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,
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I have possessed your Grace of what I purpose
Read the QuoteShylock
I have possessed your Grace of what I purpose,
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
To have the due and forfeit of my bond.
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter and your city’s freedom!
You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats.
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I pray you, think you question with the Jew
Read the QuoteI pray you, think you question with the Jew.
You may as well go stand upon the beach
And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
You may as well use question with the wolf
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops and to make no noise
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
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What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
Read the QuoteWhat judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
You have among you many a purchased slave,
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts
Because you bought them. Shall I say to you
“Let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!
Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds
Be made as soft as yours,
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Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
Read the QuoteGratiano
Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
Shylock
To cut the forfeiture from that bankrout there.
Gratiano
Not on thy sole but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
Thou mak’st thy knife keen. But no metal can,
No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness
Of thy sharp envy.
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I beseech you let his lack of years be no impediment
Read the QuoteI beseech you let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation, for I never knew so young a body with so old a head.
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The quality of mercy is not strained
Read the QuoteThe quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation.
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