Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (c. 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.

Quotes
And we will all the pleasures prove That hills and valleys, dales and fields, Or woods or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon the rocks, And see the shepherds feed their flocks By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies.
 * Come live with me and be my Love,
 * The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (unknown date), stanzas 1 and 2. Compare: "To shallow rivers, to whose falls / Melodious birds sings madrigals; / There will we make our peds of roses, / And a thousand fragrant posies", William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. scene i. (Sung by Evans.)

Dido (c. 1586)

 * You sons of care, companions of my course!
 * Aeneas, Act I, scene i, line 142


 * Pluck up your hearts, since fate still rests our friend.
 * Aeneas, Act I, scene i, line 149


 * What strange arts necessity finds out.
 * Venus, Act I, scene i, line 169

Tamburlaine (c. 1588)
Our life is frail, and we may die to-day.
 * Time passeth swift away;
 * Mycetes, Act I, scene i, line 68


 * Our swords shall play the orators for us.
 * Techelles, Act I, scene ii, line 132


 * Accurst be he that first invented war.
 * Mycetes, Part 1, Act II, scene iv, line 1

For both their worths shall equal him no more.
 * Let Earth and Heaven his timeless death deplore,
 * Amyras, Part 2, Act V, scene iii, lines 252–253

The Jew of Malta (c. 1589)
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.
 * I count religion but a childish toy,
 * Machiavel, Prologue

Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room.
 * And thus methinks should men of judgment frame
 * Barabas, Act I, scene i. Paraphrasing John Heywood, "Here lyeth muche rychnesse in lytell space," in The Foure PP (c. 1530).


 * Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
 * Ferneze, Act I, scene ii

Are hardly cured with exclamations.
 * Things past recovery
 * Barabas, Act I, scene ii

Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.
 * Religion
 * Barabas, Act I, scene ii


 * Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is, more knave than fool.
 * Barabas, Act II, scene iii. Marlowe is referencing Jesus, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," in Matthew 10:16.

Fornication: but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead.
 * Thou hast committed—
 * Friar Barnardine and Barabas, Act IV, scene i


 * Love me little, love me long.
 * Ithamore, Act IV. Quoting John Heywood, "Love me litle, love me long," in Proverbes (c. 1538), Part ii, Chapter ii.

Neither to fate nor fortune, but to Heaven.
 * So, march away; and let due praise be given
 * Ferneze, Act V

Edward II (c. 1592)
Shall with their goat feet dance the antic hay.
 * My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
 * Gaveston, Act I, scene i, lines 57–58

A prison may best beseem his holiness.
 * What should a priest do with so fair a house?
 * Gaveston, Act I, scene i, lines 204–205


 * My swelling heart for very anger breaks.
 * King Edward, Act II, scene ii, line 197

Be proof of my grief and innocency.
 * And let these tears, distilling from mine eyes,
 * Mortimer, Act V, scene vi, line 100

Doctor Faustus (c. 1603)


What will be, shall be.
 * Che serà, serà:
 * Faustus, Act I, scene i, lines 47–58

In one self place; but where we are is hell, And where hell is, there must we ever be.
 * Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd
 * Mephistopheles, Act II, scene i, line 118

And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that are not heaven.
 * When all the world dissolves,
 * Mephistopheles, Act II, scene i, line 120. In the first line, Marlowe references Isaiah in Isaiah 24:19 and 34:4; in the second line, he references Daniel in Daniel 12:10.

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!
 * Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
 * Faustus, Act V, scene i, lines 91–93


 * Pray for me! and what noise soever ye hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.
 * Faustus, Act V, scene ii, lines 57–58


 * He that loves pleasure, must for pleasure fall.
 * Evil Angel, Act V, scene iv

Hero and Leander (published 1598)
A brow for love to banquet royally.
 * A pleasant-smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
 * First Sestiad

For will in us is overruled by fate.
 * It lies not in our power to love or hate,
 * First Sestiad


 * Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?
 * First Sestiad. The same statement occurs in As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare, and a similar one in The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (1596) by George Chapman.

Which long time lie untouch'd, will harshly jar. Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine.
 * Like untuned golden strings all women are,
 * First Sestiad


 * All women are ambitious naturally.
 * First Sestiad


 * Love always makes those eloquent that have it.
 * Second Sestiad


 * Above our life we love a steadfast friend.
 * Second Sestiad

Disputed

 * All they that love not tobacco and boys are fools.
 * Remark attributed to Marlowe from the testimony of Richard Baines, a government informer, in 1593.

Misattributed

 * Comparisons are odious.
 * Lust's Dominion (c. 1600), Act iii. scene 4. The first edition attributed the authorship of this play to Marlowe, though this attribution has been recognized as spurious by critics and scholars for nearly two centuries. See Logan and Smith, Predecessors of Shakespeare, p. 32. But compare: "Comparisons are odious", John Fortescue, De Laudibus Leg. Angliæ, Chapter xix.


 * I'm armed with more than complete steel,— The justice of my quarrel.
 * Lust's Dominion (c. 1600), Act iii. scene 4. Compare: "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just, And he but naked, though locked up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted", William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Act iii. scene 2.