Cordelia Quotes

• Allow not nature more than nature needs.

  William Shakespeare

  Needs, Excess, Lear

  William Shakespeare, Frank Green (2000). “King Lear”, p.111, Heinemann

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• Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Unhappy, Mouths

  William Shakespeare (1826). “Plays of William Shakespeare”, p.838

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• Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

  William Shakespeare

  Speak, Albany, Feels

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [325]

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• Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides: Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.

  William Shakespeare

  Time, Lasts, Faults

  William Shakespeare (1820). “Select Plays of William Shakespeare: With the Corrections & Illustrations of Various Commentators”, p.151

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• We are not the first
  Who with best meaning have incurred the worst

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Firsts, Worst

  William Shakespeare, Dr. Barbara A. Mowat (2003). “King Lear”, p.235, Simon and Schuster

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• As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

  William Shakespeare

  God, Sports, Religious

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 4, sc. 1, l. 36

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• I have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I'll weep.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Causes, Cry

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 2, sc. 4, l. [279]

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• So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies.

  William Shakespeare

  Butterfly, Ebb And Flow, Laughing

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. 8

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• Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.

  William Shakespeare

  Excellent, Lows, Gentle

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [274]

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• O, let him pass. He hates him That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer.

  William Shakespeare

  Hate, World, Vex

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [314]

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• No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too, Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out; And take upon's the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out, In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, That ebb and flow by the moon.

  William Shakespeare

  Wall, Butterfly, Blessing

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. 8

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• Tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age, Conferring them on younger strengths, while we Unburdened crawl toward death.

  William Shakespeare

  Retirement, Age, Care

  William Shakespeare (1996). “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, p.885, Wordsworth Editions

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• The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most: we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

  William Shakespeare

  Time, Long, Weight

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. [325]

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• Endure pain, find joy, and make your own meaning, because the universe certainly isn't going to supply it.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Pain, Joy, Endure

  Lois McMaster Bujold (1999). “Cordelia's Honor”, p.382, Baen Books

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• And this was your friend?" Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long the stand around chatting before they shoot you.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Eyebrows, Differences, Long

  Lois McMaster Bujold (1999). “Cordelia's Honor”, p.41, Baen Books

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• Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich, being poor; Most choice, forsaken; and most loved, despised! Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon: Be it lawful I take up what's cast away. Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect My love should kindle to inflamed respect. Thy dowerless daughter, king, thrown to my chance, Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France: Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy Can buy this unprized precious maid of me. Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind: Thou losest here, a better where to find.

  William Shakespeare

  Daughter, Art, Queens

  William Shakespeare, Jay L. Halio (1992). “The Tragedy of King Lear”, p.109, Cambridge University Press

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• I can't help but think that it's an unfortunate custom to name children after people who come to sticky ends. Even if they are fictional characters, it doesn't bode well for the poor things. There are too many Judes and Tesses and Clarissas and Cordelias around. If we must name our children after literary figures then we should search out happy ones, although it's true they are much harder to find.

  Kate Atkinson

  Children, Character, Thinking

  Kate Atkinson (2013). “Emotionally Weird: A Novel”, p.102, Macmillan

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• Cordelia: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan. Oz: We attack the Mayor with hummus. Cordelia: I stand corrected. Oz: Just keeping things in perspective.

  Joss Whedon

  Thinking, Perspective, Vampire

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• The tradition of portrait painting, to embellish or idealize the subject, remains the aim of everyday and of commercial photography, but it has had a much more limited career in photography considered as art. Generally speaking, the honors have gone to the Cordelias.

  Susan Sontag

  Photography, Art, Careers

  Susan Sontag (2011). “On Photography”, p.93, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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• Cordelia! stay a little. Ha! What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft.

  William Shakespeare

  Voice, Bereavement, Littles

  William Shakespeare, Barry Cornwall, John Ogden, Richard H. Horne (1843). “The Works of Shakespere”, p.369

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• This is what I miss, Cordelia: not something that’s gone, but something that will never happen. Two old women giggling over their tea.

  Margaret Atwood

  Two, Missing, Tea

  Margaret Atwood (2009). “Cat's Eye”, p.350, Hachette UK

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• You're dead, Cordelia.' No I'm not. 'Yes you are. You're dead. Lie down.

  Margaret Atwood

  Lying

  Margaret Atwood (1989). “Cat's Eye”, Bantam

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• [Koudelka] looked back, "You?! I know you! You trust beyond reason!" [Cordelia] met his eyes steadily, "Yes, it's how I get results beyond hope, as you may recall.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Eye, May, Reason

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• I was in King Lear with Sir Tom Courtenay at The Royal Exchange in Manchester. In fact, that's where I met my husband. I was playing Regan and he was playing Cornwall and together we fell in love plucking out Gloucester's eyes. It was great fun. Everyone assumes that I was Cordelia because I've got blonde hair but I was Regan and they gave me a long auburn wig. It was great, good fun.

  Ashley Jensen

  Kings, Husband, Fun

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

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