—The witches' philosophy of life. he unseam'd him from the nave to the chops
—The bloody Sergeant's description of Macbeth's killing of the rebel Macdonwald.
Let not light see my black and deep desires
—After being honored by King Duncan, Macbeth wrestles with his desire to murder him.
Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.
—Lady Macbeth, after receiving her husband's letter about the witches' prophecy, expresses her fear that he isn't bad enough.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!
—Lady Macbeth, upon hearing that King Duncan is to stay the night in her castle, pumps herself up to kill him. that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all—here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come
—Macbeth, thinking about murdering Duncan, tries to think if there is a way to evade the consequences.
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.
—Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder King Duncan.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
—On his way to murder King Duncan, Macbeth sees the vision of the bloody dagger leading the way.
Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't.
—Lady Macbeth, worried that Macbeth will fail to murder King Duncan, reveals a weakness while boasting of her strength.
Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast—
—After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth fears that he will never sleep again.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
—The refrain of the witches' chant as they await the arrival of Macbeth. none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.
—The second apparition, a "bloody Child," delivers to Macbeth a deceptive prophecy.
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
—The third apparition, "a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand," makes Macbeth believe he can never be defeated. from this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand
—Macbeth, upon hearing that Macduff has fled to England, determines to kill Macduff's family. He justifies himself by saying that from now on he will follow his first impulse, because if he had followed his first impulse, Macduff would already be dead.
Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd
—Macduff tells Macbeth that he is the man not "of woman born."
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!"
—Macbeth's final words.
Macbeth (after hearing the witches' prophecies for him):
"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir." (Act I, scene iii)
Lady Macbeth (after Macbeth killed Duncan and seems weak from the experience):
"Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil." (Act II, scene ii)
Macbeth (trying to prepare himself to kill Duncan):
"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other...." (Act I, scene vii)
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: (1.5.1)