Christopher Marlowe Quotes & Sayings

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike — Christopher Marlowe

The sight of London to my exiled eyes
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul. — Christopher Marlowe

That like I best that flies beyond my reach.
Set me to scale the high pyramids
And thereon set the diadem of France;
I'll either rend it with my nails to nought,
Or mount the top with my aspiring wings,
Although my downfall be the deepest hell. — Christopher Marlowe

Who hateth me but for my happiness? Or who is honored now but for his wealth? Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus, Than pitied in a Christian poverty. — Christopher Marlowe

Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position. — Christopher Marlowe

Hell is just a frame of mind. — Christopher Marlowe

Unhappy Persia, that in former age
Hast been the seat of mighty Conquerors,
That in their prowesse and their policies, Have triumph over Africa. — Christopher Marlowe

Virginity, albeit some highly prize it, Compared with marriage, had you tried them both, Differs as much as wine and water doth. — Christopher Marlowe

More childish valorous than manly wise. — Christopher Marlowe

Love always makes those eloquent that have it.

---From "Hero and Leander, Sestiad II — Christopher Marlowe

Love me little, love me long. — Christopher Marlowe

TAMBURLAINE: Live still, my love, and so conserve my life,
Or, dying, be the author of my death. — Christopher Marlowe

Now I will show myselfTo have more of the serpent than the dove;That is
more knave than fool. — Christopher Marlowe

YOUNGER MORTIMER: Fear'd am I more than lov'd; - let me be fear'd,
And, when I frown, make all the court look pale. — Christopher Marlowe

Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast.
What shall I do to shun the snares of death? — Christopher Marlowe

Think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing?
I tell thee, 'tis not so fair as thou
Or any man that breathes on earth. — Christopher Marlowe

This tottered ensign of my ancestors
Which swept the desert shore of that dead sea
Whereof we got the name of Mortimer,
Will I advance upon these castle-walls.
Drums, strike alarum, raise them from their sport,
And sing aloud the knell of Gaveston! — Christopher Marlowe

TAMBURLAINE. [to BAJAZETH] Soft sir, you must be dieted, too much eating will make you surfeit.
THERIDAMAS. So it would my lord, specially having so smal a walke, and so litle exercise. — Christopher Marlowe

BARABAS: For religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion. — Christopher Marlowe

FAUSTUS: Where are you damn'd?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: In hell.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: — Christopher Marlowe

I wish, grave governor, 'twere in my power
To favour you; but 'tis my father's cause,
Wherein I may not, nay, I dare not dally. — Christopher Marlowe

Goodness is beauty in the best estate. — Christopher Marlowe

Where both deliberate, the love is slight; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight? — Christopher Marlowe

Menaphon:
Your Majestie shall shortly have your wish,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis.
Tamburlaine:
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?
Is it not brave to be a King, Techelles?
Usumcasane and Theridamas,
Is it not passing brave to be a King,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis? — Christopher Marlowe

YOUNG MORTIMER:
Thou proud disturber of thy country's peace,
Corrupter of thy king, cause of these broils,
Base flatterer, yield! and were it not for shame,
Shame and dishonour to a soldier's name,
Upon my weapon's point here should'st thou fall,
And welter in thy gore.
LANCASTER:
Monster of men!
That, like the Greekish strumpet, train'd to arms
And bloody wars so many valiant knights;
Look for no other fortune, wretch, than death!
King Edward is not here to buckler thee. — Christopher Marlowe

All beasts are happy,
For, when they die,
Their souls are soon dissolv'd in elements;
But mine must live still to be plagu'd in hell.
Curs'd be the parents that engender'd me!
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer
That hath depriv'd thee of the joys of heaven. — Christopher Marlowe

What art thou Faustus, but a man condemned to die? — Christopher Marlowe

Blood is the god of war's rich livery. — Christopher Marlowe

While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position. — Christopher Marlowe

Why should you love him whom the world hates so?
Because he love me more than all the world. — Christopher Marlowe

What nourishes me, destroys me — Christopher Marlowe

All live to die, and rise to fall. — Christopher Marlowe

O soul, be changed into little waterdrops, / And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found! — Christopher Marlowe

Mephistopheles: Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortured and remain forever.
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is must we ever be.
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that is not heaven. — Christopher Marlowe

Virtue is the fount whence honor springs. — Christopher Marlowe

What are kings, when regiment is gone, but perfect shadows in a sunshine day? — Christopher Marlowe

As in plain terms (yet cunningly) he crav'd it; / Love always makes those eloquent that have it (II.71-2). — Christopher Marlowe

BALDOCK: To die, sweet Spenser, therefore live we all;
Spenser, all live to die, and rise to fall. — Christopher Marlowe

There is no sin but ignorance. — Christopher Marlowe

You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then stab, when occasion serves. — Christopher Marlowe

What feeds me destroys me. — Christopher Marlowe

All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperors and kings
Are but obey'd in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds in this
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man!
A sound magician is a mighty god. — Christopher Marlowe

Lone women, like to empty houses, perish. — Christopher Marlowe

Fornication: but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead. — Christopher Marlowe

The God Thou servest is thine own appetite, wherein is fixed the love of Beelzebub. To Him I'll build an altar and a church, and offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes. — Christopher Marlowe

All women are ambitious naturallie — Christopher Marlowe

I am Envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper and an oyster-wife. I cannot read, and therefore wish all books were burnt; I am lean with seeing others eat - O that there would come a famine through all the world, that all might die, and I live alone; then thou should'st see how fat I would be! But must thou sit and I stand? Come down, with a vengeance! — Christopher Marlowe

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? — Christopher Marlowe

Confess and be hanged. — Christopher Marlowe

TAMBURLAINE: Nature, that fram'd us of four elements
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world,
And measure every wandering planet's course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite,
And always moving as the restless spheres,
Wills us to wear ourselves and never rest,
Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown. — Christopher Marlowe

FAUSTUS. Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.
By him I'll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge thorough the moving air,
To pass the ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown:
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtain'd what I desir'd,
I'll live in speculation of this art,
Till Mephistophilis return again. — Christopher Marlowe

Thou from this land, I from myself am banish'd. — Christopher Marlowe

A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit: Bid Economy10 farewell, and11 Galen come, Seeing, Ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus: Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold, And be eterniz'd for some wondrous cure: Summum bonum medicinae sanitas, The end of physic is our body's health. — Christopher Marlowe

Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell. — Christopher Marlowe

My men like satyrs grazing on the lawns, / Shall with their goat-feet dance an antic hay. — Christopher Marlowe

If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sin,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death. — Christopher Marlowe

Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness. — Christopher Marlowe

But what are kings, when regiment is gone,
But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?
- Edward II, 5.1 — Christopher Marlowe

Virtue is the fount whence honour springs. — Christopher Marlowe

BARABAS: A reaching thought will search his deepest wits,
And cast with cunning for the time to come;
For evils are apt to happen every day. — Christopher Marlowe

Hell and confusion light upon their heads. — Christopher Marlowe

He must have a long spoon that eats with the devil. — Christopher Marlowe

Things that are not at all, are never lost. — Christopher Marlowe

USUMCASANE: To be a king, is half to be a god. — Christopher Marlowe

Ah fair Zenocrate, divine Zenocrate, Fair is too foul an epithet for thee. — Christopher Marlowe

Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile.
'Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me. — Christopher Marlowe

Live and die in Aristotle's works. — Christopher Marlowe

From jygging vaines of riming mother wits,
And such conceits as clownage keepes in pay,
Weele leade you to the stately tent of War:
Where you shall heare the Scythian Tamburlaine,
Threatning the world with high astounding tearms
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.
View but his picture in this tragicke glasse,
And then applaud his fortunes if you please. — Christopher Marlowe

BARABAS: Things past recovery
Are hardly cur'd with exclamations.
Be silent, daughter; sufferance breeds ease,
And time may yield us an occasion,
Which on the sudden cannot serve the turn. — Christopher Marlowe

Love deeply grounded, hardly is dissembled. — Christopher Marlowe

Our swords shall play the orators for us. — Christopher Marlowe

Faustus: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good will
my soul do thy lord?
Mephistopheles: Enlarge his kingdom.
Faustus: Is that the reason he tempts us thus?
Mephistopheles: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
(It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery) — Christopher Marlowe

KING EDWARD: But what is he whom rule and empery
Have not in life or death made miserable? — Christopher Marlowe

If I be cruel and grow tyrannous,
Now let them thank themselves, and rue too late. — Christopher Marlowe

Wagner Doctor Faustus' student and servant: "Alas, poor slave! See how poverty jests in his nakedness. I know the villain's out of service, and so hungry that I know he would give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton, though it were blood raw."
Robin a clown: "Not so, neither! I had need to have it well roasted, and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you. — Christopher Marlowe

What virtue is it that is born with us?
Much less can honor be ascribed thereto,
Honor is purchased by the deeds we do.
Believe me, Hero, honor is not won,
Until some honorable deed be done.

----From "Hero and Leander, Sestiad I — Christopher Marlowe

All places shall be hell that are not heaven. — Christopher Marlowe

I'm armed with more than complete steel, - The justice of my quarrel. — Christopher Marlowe

Strike up the drum and march courageously. — Christopher Marlowe

I am Envy ... I cannot read and therefore wish all books burned. — Christopher Marlowe

Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles! — Christopher Marlowe

The general welcomes Tamburlaine receiv'd, When he arrived last upon the 1 stage, Have made our poet pen his Second Part, Where Death cuts off the progress of his pomp, And murderous Fates throw all his triumphs 2 down. But what became of fair — Christopher Marlowe

Above our life we love a steadfast friend. — Christopher Marlowe

All places are alike, and every earth is fit for burial. — Christopher Marlowe

YOUNGER MORTIMER: Base Fortune, now I see, that in thy wheel
There is a point, to which when men aspire,
They tumble headlong down: that point I touch'd,
And, seeing there was no place to mount up higher,
Why shall I grieve at my declining fall?
Farewell, fair queen. Weep not for Mortimer,
That scorns the world, and, as a traveller,
Goes to discover countries yet unknown. — Christopher Marlowe

FAUSTUS. [Stabbing his arm.] Lo, Mephistophilis, for love of thee,
I cut mine arm, and with my proper blood
Assure my soul to be great Lucifer's,
Chief lord and regent of perpetual night! — Christopher Marlowe

Look, look, master, here comes two religious caterpillars. — Christopher Marlowe

Mephistopheles: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss? — Christopher Marlowe

Gaveston:
I can no longer keepe me from my lord.
Edward:
What Gaveston, welcome: kis not my hand,
Embrace me Gaveston as I do thee:
Why shouldst thou kneele, knowest thou not who I am?
Thy friend, thy selfe, another Gaveston.
Not Hilas was more mourned of Hercules,
Then thou hast beene of me since thy exile. — Christopher Marlowe

Yet should there hover in their restless heads
One thought, one grace, one wonder at the least,
Which into words no virtue can digest. — Christopher Marlowe

Edward:
Well Mortimer, ile make thee rue these words,
Beseemes it thee to contradict thy king?
Frownst thou thereat, aspiring Lancaster,
The sworde shall plane the furrowes of thy browes,
And hew these knees that now are growne so stiffe.
I will have Gaveston, and you shall know,
What danger tis to stand against your king.
Gaveston:
Well doone, Ned. — Christopher Marlowe

The griefs of private men are soon allayed, But not of kings. — Christopher Marlowe

Make me immortal with a kiss. — Christopher Marlowe

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is must we ever be. — Christopher Marlowe

Forbid me not to weep; he was my father;
And, had you lov'd him half so well as I,
You could not bear his death thus patiently. — Christopher Marlowe

Thus Time, and all-states-ordering Ceremony
Had banished all offense: Time's golden thigh
Upholds the flowery body of the earth
In sacred harmony, and every birth
Of men and actions makes legitimate,
Being used aright. The use of time is Fate.

---From "Hero and Leander, Sestiad III — Christopher Marlowe

Heavens can witness I love none but you:
From my embracements thus he breaks away.
O that mine arms could close this isle about,
That I might pull him to me where I would!
Or that these tears that drizzle from mine eyes
Had power to mollify his stony heart,
That when I had him we might never part. — Christopher Marlowe

Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer, / Conspired against our God with Lucifer, / And are for ever damned with Lucifer. — Christopher Marlowe

Accursed be he that first invented war. — Christopher Marlowe

And 'tis a pretty toy to be a poet. — Christopher Marlowe