Important Quotations Explained
1. My
Master Thomas More would give anything to anyone. Some say that's
good and some say that's bad, but I say he can't help it—and that's
bad . . . because some day someone's going to ask him for something
that he wants to keep; and he'll be out of practice.
(Act
One, scene one)
2. Well
. . . I believe, when statesmen forsake their own private conscience
for the sake of their public duties . . . they lead their country
by a short route to chaos.
(Act
One, scene two)
3. (Quietly)
I neither could nor would rule my King.
(Pleasantly)
But there's a little . . . little, area . . . where I must rule
myself. It's very little—less to him than a tennis court.
(Act
One, scene seven)
4. And
when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you—where
would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? (He leaves him)
This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man's
laws, not God's—and if you cut them down—and you're just the man
to do it—d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds
that would blow then?
(Act
One, scene seven)
5. All
right, so he's down on his luck! I'm sorry. I don't mind saying
that: I'm sorry! Bad luck! If I'd any good luck to spare he could
have some. I wish we could all have good luck, all the time! I wish
we had wings! I wish rainwater was beer! But it isn't! . . . And
what with not having wings but walking-on two flat feet; and good
luck and bad luck being just exactly even stevens; and rain being
water—don't you complicate the job by putting things in me for me
to miss!
(Act
Two, scene two)
6. Better
a live rat than a dead lion
(Act
Two, scene seven)
