Henry IV, Part 1
52 quotes
Biography
Henry IV, Part 1 is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in the mid-1590s and first published in quarto in 1598. It was composed in the later years of the reign of Elizabeth I, when questions of succession and political stability were prominent.
"So shaken as we are, so wan with care."
"Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know."
"Diana’s foresters, Gentlemen of the shade, Minions of the moon."
"Old father antic the law."
"Thou hast the most unsavory similes; and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince."
"I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought."
"O, Thou hast damnable iteration; and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint."
"And now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked."
"’T is my vocation, Hal; ’t is no sin for a man to labour in his vocation."
"Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due."
"There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'st not of the blood royal, if thou dar'st not stand for ten shillings."
"I know a trick worth two of that."
"If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged."
"It would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever."
"Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety."
"I could brain him with his lady’s fan."
"A Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy."
"A plague of all cowards, I say."
"There live not three good men unhanged in England; and one of them is fat, and grows old."
"Call you that, backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing!"
"I am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew."
"I have peppered two of them: two, I am sure I have paid, two rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face; call me horse. Thou knowest my old ward: here I lay, and thus I bore my point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me —"
"Three misbegotten knaves, in Kendal green."
"Give you a reason on compulsion! If reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I."
"Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down."