The Tempest Quotes

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“What's past is prologue.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Now I will believe that there are unicorns...”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“O, brave new world
that has such people in't!”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“This thing of darkness I
Acknowledge mine.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Let us not burden our remembrances with a heaviness that's gone.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well. Awake.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Thought is free.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“I am your wife if you will marry me.
If not, I'll die your maid. To be your fellow
You may deny me, but I'll be your servant Whether you will or no.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is, I know how to curse”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Good wombs have borne bad sons."
-- (Miranda, I:2)”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Twas a clever quibble. Here, a garment for it.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“...and then, in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches / Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked / I cried to dream again.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“I long to hear the story of your life, which must captivate the ear strangely.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“I'll break my staff, bury it certain fathoms in the earth, and deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book!”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“At this hour
Lie at my mercy all mine enemies.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Watch out he's winding the watch of his wit, by and by it will strike.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“This rough magic I here abjure and when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon their senses that this airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, bury it certain fathoms in the earth, and deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
Curtsied when you have and kissed
The wild waves whist,
Foot is featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.

Ariel's song, scene II, Act I”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say what thou seest yond.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm’d
The noontide sun, call’d forth the mutinous winds,
And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove’s stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck’d up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest