Cymbeline

play by William Shakespeare

Cymbeline, a play of uncertain date by William Shakespeare, was produced as early as 1611. It has been described as a tragi-comedy or a romance and is set in pre-Roman Britain.

Fear no more the heat o' the sun
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Act I

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  • Lest the bargain should catch cold and starve.
    • Iachimo, scene iv


  • His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
    Is at last gasp.
    • Queen, scene v


  • Boldness be my friend!
    Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
    • Iachimo, scene vi


Act II

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  • Every Jack-slave hath his belly-full of fighting.
    • Cloten, scene i


  • The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense
    Repairs itself by rest.
    • Iachimo, scene ii


  • How bravely thou becom'st thy bed, fresh lily.
    • Iachimo, scene ii


  • 'Tis her breathing that
    Perfumes the chamber thus.
    • Iachimo, scene ii


  • The most patient man in loss, the most coldest that ever turned up ace.
    • 1 Lord, scene iii


  • Hark! hark! The lark at heaven's gate sings,
    And Phoebus 'gins arise,
    His steeds to water at those springs
    On chalic'd flowers that lies;
    And winking Mary-buds begin
    To ope their golden eyes;
    With everything that pretty is,
    My lady sweet, arise:
    Arise, arise.
    • Cloten, scene iii


  • As chaste as unsunn'd snow.
    • Posthumus, scene v


Act III

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  • Some griefs are med'cinable.
    • Imogen, scene ii


  • O, for a horse with wings!
    • Imogen, scene ii


  • Often, to our comfort, shall we find
    The sharded beetle in a safer hold
    Than is the full-wing'd eagle.
    • Belarius, scene iii


  • Richer, than doing nothing for a bribe;
    Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk.
    • Belarius, scene iii


  • Our cage
    We make a choir, as doth the prison'd bird
    And sing our bondage freely.
    • Arviragus, scene iii


  • The art o' the court,
    As hard to leave as keep; whose top to climb
    Is certain falling, or so slippery that
    The fear’s as bad as falling.
    • Belarius, scene iii


  • The game is up!
    • Belarius, scene iii


  • 'Tis slander,
    Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
    Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
    Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
    All corners of the world.
    • Pisanio, scene iv


  • Some jay of Italy,
    Whose mother was her painting, hath betray’d him:
    Poor I am stale, a garment out of fashion.
    • Imogen, scene iv


  • It is no act of common passage, but
    A strain of rareness.
    • Imogen, scene iv


  • I have not slept one wink.
    • Pisanio, scene iv


  • Thou art all the comfort
    The gods will diet me with.
    • Imogen, scene iv


  • Weariness
    Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth
    Finds the down pillow hard.
    • Belarius, scene vi


  • By Jupiter, an angel! or, if not,
    An earthly paragon! Behold divineness
    No elder than a boy.
    • Belarius, scene vi

Act IV

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  • Triumphs for nothing, and lamenting toys,
    Is jollity for apes and grief for boys.
    • Guiderius, scene ii


  • I thought he slept, and put
    My clouted brogues from off my feet.
    • Arviragus, scene ii


  • With fairest flowers,
    Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
    I'll sweeten thy sad grave; thou shall not lack
    The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
    The azur'd harebell, like thy veins.
    • Arviragus, scene ii


  • Fear no more the heat o' the sun
    Nor the furious winter's rages;
    Thou thy worldly task hast done,
    Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:
    Golden lads and girls all must,
    As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
    • Guiderius, scene ii


Act V

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  • O, the charity of a penny cord! it sums up thousands in a trice.
    • 1 Gaoler, scene iv


  • O, never say hereafter
    But I am truest speaker: you call’d me brother
    When I was but your sister; I you, brothers,
    When you were so indeed.
    • Imogen, scene v


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