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The Merchant of Venice

Famous Quotes From "The Merchant of Venice"

By Simran Khurana, About.com

The Merchant of Venice is a gripping story about a moneylender -- Shylock -- who wants to be paid his 'dues' in a fair manner. The only problem is that Shylock wants to be paid 'a pound of flesh' as dues for the money he loaned to Antonio. The entire drama unfolds in the court of the Duke of Venice, who wants to make sure that justice is done to both parties. The Merchant of Venice is famous for its dramatic speeches and unique storyline. Read some famous quotes from The Merchant of Venice.

Act. v. Sc. I
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise and true perfection!

Act III, Sc. II
The kindest man,
The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit
In doing courtesies.

Act II, Sc. VI
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit.

Act I, Sc. I
Why should a man whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?

Act I, Sc. I
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it that do buy it with much care.

Act. v. Sc. I
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Act I, Sc. III
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness.

Act I, Sc. III
My meaning in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.

Act III, Sc. I
The villany you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.

Act III, Sc. I
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?

Act I, Sc. III
Ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves.

Act I, Sc. II
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.

Act III, Sc. II
An unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn.

Act III, Sc. II
Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.

Act I, Sc. I
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,
A stage, where every man must play a part;
And mine a sad one.

Act III, Sc. II
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt
But being season'd with a gracious voice
Obscures the show of evil?

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