The most-quoted lines from the play, with a plain-English paraphrase, who said it and when, and a couple of sentences on why it matters. Filter by character, theme, or act — or scroll the lot.
I pray you, sir, is it your will / To make a stale of me amongst these mates?
I beg your pardon, sir, is it your wish To make a fool of me in front of these men?
Katherina · Act 1, Scene 1
Kate's first line is a verbal blow to her father's attempt to marry her off. She speaks her mind directly and without apology, establishing her as a woman who refuses to be passive or decorative. This defiance is what makes her arc meaningful—she doesn't soften, she strategizes.
Sister, content you in my discontent. Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe: My books and instruments shall be my company, On them to took and practise by myself.
Sister, stay calm in my unhappiness. Sir, I humbly agree with your wishes: My books and instruments will be my companions, I’ll study and practice alone with them.
Bianca · Act 1, Scene 1
Bianca offers to comfort her sister Katharina while accepting their father's demand that she stay locked away until Kate marries. The moment matters because it reveals Bianca's strategy—she performs perfect obedience while protecting her own freedom to study and live as she chooses. Her calm acceptance masks a quiet rebellion that will outlast Kate's louder defiance.
Say that she rail, why then I'll tell her plain / She sings as sweetly as a nightingale:
If she yells at me, I'll just tell her straight out That she sings as sweetly as a nightingale:
Petruchio · Act 2, Scene 1
Petruchio has just learned that Kate is a shrew and immediately declares his strategy to Hortensio: he will answer her fury with extravagant praise. This line is famous because it crystallizes the entire philosophy of the taming — conquest through contradiction and relentless inversion of reality. It shows Petruchio as a man who sees shrewishness not as an obstacle but as a game he can win through wit.
She is not for your turn, the more my grief.
She's not suited for your interests, much to my sorrow.
Baptista Minola · Act 2, Scene 1
Baptista tells Petruchio that Kate is not the wife for him, yet Petruchio is undeterred. The line is important because it shows that Baptista himself has given up on Kate as a commodity—she is unsellable, a burden. Petruchio's immediate interest in her despite this verdict establishes him as either foolish or secretly brilliant.
Not I, believe me: thus I'll visit her.
Not me, believe me: I'll visit her like this.
Petruchio · Act 3, Scene 2
When Baptista suggests Petruchio change into better clothes before visiting Kate, Petruchio refuses. This moment reveals his strategy: he will not conform to anyone's expectations, not even the father of his bride. It foreshadows the systematic inversion of reality he will inflict on Kate at his house.
All ready; and therefore, I pray thee, news.
Everything’s ready; so tell me, what’s going on.
Curtis · Act 4, Scene 1
Curtis confirms that the house is prepared for Petruchio and Kate's arrival and asks Grumio for news. The line is the threshold moment before Petruchio's systematic campaign begins—everything is in place for the taming to start. Curtis's readiness signals that the household will become an instrument of control, where even the servants are enlisted in the work of breaking down Kate's will.
Is she so hot a shrew as she’s reported?
Is she really as much of a shrew as they say she is?
Curtis · Act 4, Scene 1
Curtis asks Grumio whether Kate is truly as much of a shrew as the reports say. The question matters because it establishes Kate's reputation as a fact before the audience meets her, and the answer—that the reports are true—will turn out to be wrong. The play's deepest trick is that her fierceness is not a flaw but a refusal to perform.
Thus have I politicly begun my reign, / And 'tis my hope to end successfully.
This is how I've cleverly started my reign, / And I hope to finish it just as well.
Petruchio · Act 4, Scene 1
After subjecting Kate to hunger, sleeplessness, and deliberate humiliation, Petruchio reflects on his method. He compares his treatment of Kate to falconry—using deprivation to train her. The word 'reign' reveals his ideology: marriage is a kingdom where he is the monarch and she must learn to obey.
Where is the life that late I led--
Where is the life I used to lead--
Petruchio · Act 4, Scene 1
Petruchio begins singing this line as he settles into his house with Kate. The fragment captures his seeming bewilderment at his new married state, though it is immediately undercut by his commands to servants. The song itself is incomplete, broken off by his domestic tyranny, suggesting that his old identity is dissolving into his new role as master.
Who is that calls so coldly?
Who’s calling so weakly?
Curtis · Act 4, Scene 1
Curtis hears Grumio's voice in the frozen dark outside Petruchio's house and asks who is calling. The question opens Act 4, where Petruchio will begin his campaign to remake Kate through sleep deprivation and contradiction. Curtis's simple query about identity foreshadows the play's central puzzle—whether a person remains themselves or becomes whoever they are told to be.
Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, / Shall win my love: and so I take my leave,
Kindness in women, not their beauty, / Will win my love: and so I take my leave,
Hortensio · Act 4, Scene 2
Hortensio renounces Bianca and vows to marry a widow for kindness rather than beauty. The line is revealing because it shows the subplot's shallow logic—he trades one woman for another based on virtue rather than desire. His speech highlights how the play questions whether true change is possible in marriage.
The more my wrong, the more his spite appears:
The worse I'm treated, the more obvious his malice is:
Katherina · Act 4, Scene 3
Kate, starving and exhausted at Petruchio's house, articulates her suffering and his cruelty in one line. This moment is crucial because it shows Kate still possesses her own analysis of events—she has not lost her mind or voice. Her lucidity makes her later obedience speech either more tragic or more strategic.
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, / So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
And just as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, / Honour shines even in the most modest attire.
Petruchio · Act 4, Scene 3
Petruchio speaks this line when Kate protests his shabby clothes for their journey home. He argues that inner worth transcends outward appearance, a philosophy that extends to Kate herself—her true nature will shine regardless of what she wears or how he has manipulated her. The image is beautiful and memorable, though its irony is sharp.
I pray the gods she may with all my heart!
I really hope she does, with all my heart!
Biondello · Act 4, Scene 4
Biondello has just helped Lucentio secretly marry Bianca, and he prays for the gods to bless the union. The line lands because it is the only moment Biondello speaks for himself rather than for his master, and his genuine warmth toward the couple breaks through the play's mechanical scheming. It reminds us that even servants have stakes in the marriages they engineer.
Fair sir, and you my merry mistress, That with your strange encounter much amazed me, My name is call’d Vincentio; my dwelling Pisa; And bound I am to Padua; there to visit A son of mine, which long I have not seen.
Good sir, and you, my cheerful lady, Who surprised me with your strange behavior, My name is Vincentio; I live in Pisa; I’m headed to Padua, to visit A son of mine whom I haven’t seen in a long time.
Vincentio · Act 4, Scene 5
The real Vincentio meets Petruchio and Kate on the road and introduces himself as a merchant traveling to see his son Lucentio. This moment matters because Vincentio has no idea that his son is secretly married and that impersonation is underway in Padua. His polite introduction sets in motion the chaos of Act 5, where he will be mistaken for a madman and nearly imprisoned.
Nay, then you lie: it is the blessed sun.
No, you're wrong: it's the blessed sun.
Petruchio · Act 4, Scene 5
On the road to Padua, Kate agrees that the moon is the sun when Petruchio insists. His immediate reversal—calling it the sun again—is the play's most perfect moment of linguistic power. It shows that for Petruchio, truth is not fixed but belongs to whoever has the will to name it.
I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
I say it's the moon that's shining so brightly.
Petruchio · Act 4, Scene 5
Petruchio's insistence that the sun is the moon tests Kate's willingness to submit to his version of reality. The line works because it is absurd and arbitrary—the point is not the moon but obedience to his word. Kate's capitulation here is the turning point where she either breaks or learns the game.
Cambio is changed into Lucentio.
Cambio has turned into Lucentio.
Bianca · Act 5, Scene 1
Bianca reveals the truth of Lucentio's disguise in a single line. The statement is famous because it encapsulates the play's obsession with identity as performance—a tutor was always Lucentio; the disguise merely revealed who he truly was. Bianca's recognition that identity can be changed through costume mirrors Kate's apparent transformation.
Where is that damned villain Tranio, That faced and braved me in this matter so?
Where is that damned villain Tranio, Who dared to challenge and deceive me in this way?
Vincentio · Act 5, Scene 1
The real Vincentio, arriving in Padua, discovers that Tranio has been impersonating him and begins searching for the villain. Vincentio's rage marks the moment when the play's accumulated deceptions start to unravel, and it matters because it reminds us that identity theft has real consequences beyond comedy. The line reveals that the theft of a name, even a borrowed one, is a form of violence.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, / Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
A woman who's upset is like a muddy fountain, / Dirty, unattractive, thick, without beauty;
Katherina · Act 5, Scene 2
Kate describes an angry woman as a polluted fountain, beautiful when still but hideous in motion. The image is both poetic and deeply misogynistic, which is precisely why it matters—it shows the language available to women when they accept the ideology of submission. The speech's beauty makes its ideology harder to reject.
He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.
The dizzy one thinks the world is spinning.
The Widow · Act 5, Scene 2
The Widow delivers this proverb in response to Petruchio's teasing at the wedding feast. The line lands because it is a perfectly turned insult that suggests Petruchio's confidence in his own taming has made him dizzy and delusional. Her wit shows that she, like Kate by this point, knows how to play the game of marriage while remaining unmoved by the man who thinks he is winning.
I am ashamed that women are so simple / To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
I'm embarrassed that women are so foolish To start a fight when they should be asking for peace;
Katherina · Act 5, Scene 2
Kate delivers a forty-line speech on wifely obedience to the astonishment of the men present. The opening of this speech is the most quoted moment in the play because it forces every reader to decide whether Kate has been broken, converted, or is performing brilliantly. The line's ambiguity—is she sincere or strategic?—is itself the point of the play.
