Shrew Quotes & Sayings

My first acting lessons were Shakespeare. The first time I ever started working with a coach was doing scenes from 'Measure for Measure,' which were tough dramatic scenes. And then 'Taming of the Shrew,' which required comedic timing. And that's the kind of stuff I love. — Dave Bautista

Such a mad marriage never was before. — William Shakespeare

When I did Taming of the Shrew, I was very tired, and I decided to have a holiday and make a documentary. — Diane Cilento

By this reckoning he is more a shrew than she. — William Shakespeare

My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, and till she stoop she must not be full-gorged, for then she never looks upon her lure. — William Shakespeare

For I am born to tame you, Kate,
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
Comfortable as other household Kates. — William Shakespeare

All the beasts from sloth to pigmy shrew, arrayed silently in ordered cavalcade as if waiting admission to the Ark. — M T Anderson

It's double talk and double standards. It's like, be honest, but don't be too honest. Look fresh-faced and young, but don't tell us how you got there. God forbid you have plastic surgery, even though we're telling you, 'Oh, you look old.' Be a career woman, but also, why aren't you having kids? Are you some kind of cold shrew? — Rachel Bloom

In an evil hour thou bring'st her home. [You are marrying a shrew.] — Horace

Of all mad matches never was the like
Being mad herself, she's madly mated. — William Shakespeare

He kills her in her own humor. — William Shakespeare

Which the Chicken and Which the Egg?
He drinks because she scolds, he thinks;
She thinks she scolds because he drinks;
And nether will admit what's true,
That he's a sot and she's a shrew. — Ogden Nash

She vied so fast, protesting oath after oath,
that in a twink she won me to her love.
O, you are novices. 'Tis a world to see
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew. — William Shakespeare

For I am he am born to tame you, Kate; and bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate conformable as other household Kates. — William Shakespeare

Fortune, in fact, is a pestilent shrew, and, withal, an inexorable creditor; and though for a time she may be all smiles and courtesies, and indulge us in long credits, yet sooner or later she brings up her arrears with a vengeance, and washes out her scores with our tears. — Washington Irving

You don't ever want to be the wife who keeps her husband from playing poker - you don't ever want to be the shrew with the curlers and the rolling pin. So you swallow your disappointment and say okay. — Gillian Flynn

Catechism.3. Recovery of health. Your honour's players hearing your amendment,Are come to play a pleasant comedy.Shakesp.Tam. Shrew. — Samuel Johnson

Poor Christopher-John had fallen into the hands of Miss. Daisy Crocker. I greatly sympathized him, but as in everything else, Christopher John tried to see the bright side in having to face such a shrew every morning. "Maybe she done changed," he said hopefully on the first day of school. However, when classes were over he was noticeably quiet.
Well?" I asked him.
He shrugged dejectedly and admitted, "She still the same. — Mildred D. Taylor

'The Taming Of The Shrew' is probably the first time I've worked in this country for about ten years, apart from theatre, and it's not for want of trying. It was so fantastic to work in London - it felt really glamorous. — Rufus Sewell

As I have put it before, if the second dinosaur to the left of the tall cycad tree had not happened to sneeze and thereby fail to catch the tiny, shrew-like ancestor of all the mammals, we would none of us be here. We all can regard ourselves as exquisitely improbable. But here, in a triumph of hindsight, we are. — Richard Dawkins

I'm no different from any other woman, and the wrong man would turn me into a screamin' shrew in record time. — Harper Lee

I will not blush, act like an idiot or a shrew. I will be professional. This is a job. Only a job. He's my boss. He's a handsome one but a jerky one and I slept with him, but he's just my boss. I embrace my inner slut. Sluts wouldn't blush, act like idiots or shrews. They would just go about their business. Therefore, I am a slut and I am proud, — Kristen Ashley

I drink because she nags, she said I nag because he drinks. But if the truth be known to you, He's a lush and she's a shrew. — Ogden Nash

Termagant!" he moaned after her. "Shrew! Harridan! All right, all right, you win, you, you ... uh ... virago, you spitfire ... " He rubbed his head and sat up, grinned sheepishly. Lin made an obscene gesture at him without turning around. — China Mieville

You have to just enjoy yourself sometimes, and the audience will, too. Not every role has to be 'The Taming of the Shrew.' — Matt Passmore

Is it possible that love should of a sudden take such a hold? — William Shakespeare

It's a joke in the zoo business, a weary joke, that the paperwork involved in trading a shrew weighs more than an elephant, that the paperwork involved in trading an elephant weighs more than a whale, and that you must never try to trade a whale, never. — Yann Martel

I do not expect or even try to convince anyone else to be religious or practice any spirituality. Your faith, your choice. Just walk in love and try not to be a hateful shrew and you'd be doing life right. — Luvvie Ajayi

Science had married the wilderness and was taming the savage shrew. — Edna Ferber

He that contemns a shrew to the degree of not descending to words with her does worse than beat her. — Roger L'Estrange

She moves me not, or not removes at least affection's edge in me. — William Shakespeare

Once I spent a whole day there, a blade of grass in each hand to anchor me to the warm earth.
I watched the sun rise, pass over my head and set. Ladybirds mated on my knuckle; a shrew nibbled a hole in my stocking while I tried not to laugh. Such a day was worth any punishment. — Emma Donoghue

Tate did anything he wanted to and expected me to put up with it or give into it. This was annoying. I was all for Tate being a macho man, badass, bounty-hunting biker because all that was immensely attractive but I'd spent more than ten years being in the control of a man. I wasn't looking for that kind of thing again no matter what form it came in. That said, as Caroline noted, Brad thought he was all that and wasn't but Tate was. No man liked a bitchy, nagging, argumentative shrew and, I would guess, definitely not a man like Tate. If I didn't cool that too maybe I'd turn him off and lose him. — Kristen Ashley

With an ashamed sigh, I confessed, "You have seen nothing but the worst of me since then, Aeron. I've been a bitter, defiant, irrational shrew ... and now I'm selfishly dragging you into a hopeless situation against your better judgment. What would possibly entice you to make good on a marriage proposal under such circumstances?"
"You would ... " his voice was gentle, as his troubled eyes searched mine. "If what I've seen is the worst of you ... then it will be a miracle if I ever find a way to deserve you. — M.A. George

I didn't think I was a humorless shrew in 'Knocked Up.' I think the women are just as funny as the men are in that movie. — Leslie Mann

How poor are they that have no patients! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?'"
"Shakespeare isn't going to save you this time, Superman. Your time's run out."
He scowled. "Perhaps I should have been studying The Taming of the Shrew! — Colleen Houck

Page 112 The Honorable Schoolboy
He was attended this morning by his wife, a former Bible School teacher from Borneo, a dried- out shrew in bobbed hair and ankle socks who could spot a sin before it was committed. — John Le Carre

Preposterous ass, that never read so far
To know the cause why music was ordain'd!
Was it not to refresh the mind of man
After his studies or his usual pain?
(The Taming of the Shrew, 3.1.10-13), Lucentio — William Shakespeare

Of all matches never was the like. — William Shakespeare

The genesis of my interest in being a writer can be traced to fourth grade when we listened to a radio production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and I asked the teacher if I could rewrite it for our class to present. Nothing like going head-to-head with the Bard, right?
I can still visualise the pages I filled creating this first "great" literary endeavor. Encouraged by teachers (and one doting grandmother), I went on to write reams of yearbook copy in high school and college and, then, to teach high school English. My "real" writing career didn't begin until I turned from education to the full-time pursuit of storytelling. — Laura Abbot

You may choose to live like a miser," Leo said, "but I'll be damned if I have to. You're incapable of enjoying the moment because you're always intent on tomorrow. Well, for some people, tomorrow never comes."
Her temper flared. "Someone has to think of tomorrow, you selfish spendthrift!"
"Coming from an overbearing shrew - "
Win stepped between them, resting a gentle hand on Amelia's shoulder. "Hush, both of you. It serves no purpose to make yourselves cross just before we are to leave." She gave Amelia a sweet quirk of a smile that no one on earth could have resisted. "Don't frown like that, dear. What if your face stayed that way?"
"With prolonged exposure to Leo," Amelia replied, "it undoubtedly would. — Lisa Kleypas

It only took Ysabel one day to screw with one of his finest trackers. Lucifer fought an urge to shake his head. "Let me get this straight. After pissing Ysabel off, to the point she's going to come storming in here any minute demanding I fire you, you still want to work with her? Are you insane?" "I hope so," Remy grinned. A smile cracked Lucifer's face. "Congratulations. Your mother will be ecstatic. Consider it done. I like a male who doesn't back down in the face of a shrew." "Bah, she's not a shrew. Just a little feisty. Besides, I think I might enjoy taming a cougar with claws. — Eve Langlais

So what did you do?" I repeated.
"I hit Sophie on the back of the head with a universal remote. This thing was huge. It's like a cell phone from the '90s."
"You were supposed to get rid of Avari without hurting the host!"
"Yeah, I didn't get that memo. Maybe next time you should be a little more specific when you boss me around while I'm saving your ass. Though, frankly, this whiny little shrew is lucky she only has one bump, 'cause she's had this coming for a while."
-Kaylee and Tod — Rachel Vincent

Sokrates' wife, Xanthippe, had in antiquity a reputation as a shrew - but being married to such a man would have tried anyone's patience, and the evidence is not conclusive. — Hilary J. Deighton

Forget Romeo and Juliet. This was much closer to The Taming of the Shrew. — Julia Quinn

If the second dinosaur to the left of the tall cycad tree had not happened to sneeze and thereby fail to catch the tiny, shrew-like ancestor of all the mammals, we should none of us be here. — Richard Dawkins

Never make love to a woman who is bad with stained glass," the emperor said solemnly, giving no indication of humorous intent. "Such a woman is an ignorant shrew. — Salman Rushdie

Amelia hides a soft heart behind a shrew's tongue. — Rysa Walker

This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak. 'Tis charity to show. — William Shakespeare

Whate'er I read to her. I'll plead for you
As for my patron, stand you so assured,
As firmly as yourself were in still place -
Yea, and perhaps with more successful words
Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.
O this learning, what a thing it is! — William Shakespeare

Venus, a beautiful, good-natured lady, was the goddess of love; Juno, a terrible shrew, the goddess of marriage: and they were always mortal enemies. — Jonathan Swift

I hear the Wind Woman running with soft, soft footsteps over the hill. I shall always think of the wind as a personality. She is a shrew when she blows from the north
a lonely seeker when she blows from the east
a laughing girl when she comes from the west
and tonight from the south a little grey fairy. — L.M. Montgomery

Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy,
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congealed your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lenghtens life. — William Shakespeare

Nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal. — William Shakespeare

It occurred to him, for the first time, that it did unflattering things to a person when affection was taken away from them. For there had been a time when she had seemed gorgeous, and fun, and all of her naughtiness had had for him a kind of irresistible pull. It was only after he decided he didn't want her anymore that she became a shrew, and obliterated his memory of the girl she used to be. — Anna Godbersen

Inside our skulls are fish, reptile and shrew brains, as well as the highest centers that allow us to integrate information in our unique way; and some of our newer brain components talk to each other via some very ancient structures indeed. Our brains are makeshift structures, opportunistically assembled by Nature over hundreds of millions of years, and in multiple different ecological contexts. — Ian Tattersall