A list of well-known quotes from The Taming of the Shrew, listed in order of appearance in the play.

Kate stands in a white dress among a crowd, wearing sunglasses and holding white flowers
A scene from the 2012 production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Lucy Bailey.
Photo by Sheila Burnett © RSC Browse and license our images

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en:
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.
(Tranio, Act 1 Scene 1)

There's small choice in rotten apples.
(Hortensio, Act 1 Scene 1)

Say that she rail, why then I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale:
Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly washed with dew:
Say she be mute and will not speak a word,
Then I'll commend her volubility,
And say she uttereth piercing eloquence:
If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks,
As though she bid me stay by her a week:
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns and when be married.
(Petruchio, Act 2 Scene 1)

You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst,
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate
(Petruchio, Act 2 Scene 1)

If I be waspish, best beware my sting. 
(Katherina, Act 2 Scene 1)

Old fashions please me best. I am not so nice
To change true rules for old inventions.
(Bianca, Act 3 Scene 1)

Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, 
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please. 
And if you please to call it a rush-candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.
(Katherina, Act 4 Scene 5)

Fie, fie! Unknit that threat'ning unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.          
(Katherina, Act 5 Scene 1)

Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
(Katherina, Act 5 Scene 1)

Why, there’s a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate. 
(Petruchio, Act 5 Scene 1)

 

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