Much Ado About Nothing key quotes: every quotation analysed

Beatrice — 12 quotations

Beatrice: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →

Benedick — 6 quotations

Benedick: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →

Claudio — 6 quotations

Claudio: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →

Hero — 6 quotations

Hero: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →

Don John — 6 quotations

Don John: character analysis, readings and essay arguments →

The quotations by theme

Love and courtship (14)

Love and courtship in Much Ado About Nothing, taught in full →

• “I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody…” — Beatrice, Act 1, Scene 1
• “there is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her” — Beatrice, Act 1, Scene 1
• “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.” — Beatrice, Act 1, Scene 1
• “Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!” — Beatrice, Act 3, Scene 1
• “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “I have a good eye, uncle; I can see a church by daylight.” — Beatrice, Act 2, Scene 1
• “What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?” — Benedick, Act 1, Scene 1
• “She speaks poniards, and every word stabs” — Benedick, Act 2, Scene 1
• “The world must be peopled.” — Benedick, Act 2, Scene 3
• “When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live…” — Benedick, Act 2, Scene 3
• “I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?” — Benedick, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Can the world buy such a jewel?” — Claudio, Act 1, Scene 1
• “In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.” — Claudio, Act 1, Scene 1
• “Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear / In the rare semblance that I…” — Claudio, Act 5, Scene 1

Deception and noting (12)

Deception and noting in Much Ado About Nothing, taught in full →

• “he is the prince's jester, a very dull fool” — Beatrice, Act 2, Scene 1
• “Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes” — Beatrice, Act 3, Scene 1
• “In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.” — Claudio, Act 1, Scene 1
• “Friendship is constant in all other things / Save in the office and…” — Claudio, Act 2, Scene 1
• “Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.” — Claudio, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes” — Hero, Act 3, Scene 1
• “Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.” — Hero, Act 3, Scene 1
• “Come, lady, die to live” — Hero, Act 4, Scene 1
• “I cannot hide what I am” — Don John, Act 1, Scene 3
• “it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain” — Don John, Act 1, Scene 3
• “Let me be that I am and seek not to alter me.” — Don John, Act 1, Scene 3
• “Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me” — Don John, Act 2, Scene 2

Honour and reputation (10)

Honour and reputation in Much Ado About Nothing, taught in full →

• “Kill Claudio.” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Is he not approved in the height a villain, that hath slandered…” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Enough, I am engaged; I will challenge him.” — Benedick, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Give not this rotten orange to your friend” — Claudio, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Give not this rotten orange to your friend” — Hero, Act 4, Scene 1
• “Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes” — Hero, Act 4, Scene 1
• “One Hero died defiled, but I do live, / And surely as I live…” — Hero, Act 5, Scene 4
• “I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace” — Don John, Act 1, Scene 3
• “If I had my mouth, I would bite” — Don John, Act 1, Scene 3

Gender and power (4)

Gender and power in Much Ado About Nothing, taught in full →

• “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.” — Beatrice, Act 1, Scene 1
• “Kill Claudio.” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1
• “manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment” — Beatrice, Act 4, Scene 1