Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (c. 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.

Quotes

Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies.
- The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (unknown date), stanzas 1 and 2. Compare: "To shallow rivers, to whose falls / Melodious birds sings madrigals; / There will we make our peds of roses, / And a thousand fragrant posies", William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. scene i. (Sung by Evans.)

Dido (c. 1586)

You sons of care, companions of my course!
- Aeneas, Act I, scene i, line 142

Pluck up your hearts, since fate still rests our friend.
- Aeneas, Act I, scene i, line 149

What strange arts necessity finds out.
- Venus, Act I, scene i, line 169

Tamburlaine (c. 1588)

Main article: Tamburlaine

Time passeth swift away;
Our life is frail, and we may die to-day.
- Mycetes, Act I, scene i, line 68

Our swords shall play the orators for us.
- Techelles, Act I, scene ii, line 132

Accurst be he that first invented war.
- Mycetes, Part 1, Act II, scene iv, line 1

Let Earth and Heaven his timeless death deplore,
For both their worths shall equal him no more.
- Amyras, Part 2, Act V, scene iii, lines 252–253

The Jew of Malta (c. 1589)

I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.
- Machiavel, Prologue

And thus methinks should men of judgment frame
Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,
And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose
Infinite riches in a little room.
- Barabas, Act I, scene i. Paraphrasing John Heywood, "Here lyeth muche rychnesse in lytell space," in The Foure PP (c. 1530).

Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
- Ferneze, Act I, scene ii

Things past recovery
Are hardly cured with exclamations.
- Barabas, Act I, scene ii

Religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.
- Barabas, Act I, scene ii

Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is, more knave than fool.
- Barabas, Act II, scene iii. Marlowe is referencing Jesus, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," in Matthew 10:16.

Thou hast committed—
Fornication: but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead.
- Friar Barnardine and Barabas, Act IV, scene i

Love me little, love me long.
- Ithamore, Act IV. Quoting John Heywood, "Love me litle, love me long," in Proverbes (c. 1538), Part ii, Chapter ii.

So, march away; and let due praise be given
Neither to fate nor fortune, but to Heaven.
- Ferneze, Act V

Edward II (c. 1592)

My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance the antic hay.
- Gaveston, Act I, scene i, lines 57–58

What should a priest do with so fair a house?
A prison may best beseem his holiness.
- Gaveston, Act I, scene i, lines 204–205

My swelling heart for very anger breaks.
- King Edward, Act II, scene ii, line 197

And let these tears, distilling from mine eyes,
Be proof of my grief and innocency.
- Mortimer, Act V, scene vi, line 100

Doctor Faustus (c. 1603)

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd
In one self place; but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.

Main article: Doctor Faustus

Che serà, serà:
What will be, shall be.
- Faustus, Act I, scene i, lines 47–58

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd
In one self place; but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
- Mephistopheles, Act II, scene i, line 118

When all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that are not heaven.
- Mephistopheles, Act II, scene i, line 120. In the first line, Marlowe references Isaiah in Isaiah 24:19 and 34:4; in the second line, he references Daniel in Daniel 12:10.

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!
- Faustus, Act V, scene i, lines 91–93

Pray for me! and what noise soever ye hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.
- Faustus, Act V, scene ii, lines 57–58

He that loves pleasure, must for pleasure fall.
- Evil Angel, Act V, scene iv

Hero and Leander (published 1598)

A pleasant-smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
A brow for love to banquet royally.
- First Sestiad

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
- First Sestiad

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?
- First Sestiad. The same statement occurs in As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare, and a similar one in The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (1596) by George Chapman.

Like untuned golden strings all women are,
Which long time lie untouch'd, will harshly jar.
Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine.
- First Sestiad

All women are ambitious naturally.
- First Sestiad

Love always makes those eloquent that have it.
- Second Sestiad

Above our life we love a steadfast friend.
- Second Sestiad

Disputed

All they that love not tobacco and boys are fools.
- Remark attributed to Marlowe from the testimony of Richard Baines, a government informer, in 1593.

Misattributed

Comparisons are odious.
- Lust's Dominion (c. 1600), Act iii. scene 4. The first edition attributed the authorship of this play to Marlowe, though this attribution has been recognized as spurious by critics and scholars for nearly two centuries. See Logan and Smith, Predecessors of Shakespeare, p. 32. But compare: "Comparisons are odious", John Fortescue, De Laudibus Leg. Angliæ, Chapter xix.

I'm armed with more than complete steel,—
The justice of my quarrel.
- Lust's Dominion (c. 1600), Act iii. scene 4. Compare: "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just, And he but naked, though locked up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted", William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Act iii. scene 2.

External links

Christopher Marlowe at Wikiquote's sister projects:
	Article at Wikipedia
	Media from Commons
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Database entry #Q28975 on Wikidata