3 quotations linked to Macbeth by or associated with William Shakespeare, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“What’s done cannot be undone.”
Some consequences cannot be reversed, so the practical question becomes how to respond now rather than how to erase the past.
Source note: Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1; Lady Macbeth speaks during the sleepwalking scene while confronting actions that cannot be reversed.
“There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”
Friendly appearance can conceal harmful intent, so trust should consider patterns of conduct rather than expressions alone.
Source note: Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3.
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er-wrought heart and bids it break.”
Putting grief into words can make suffering more shareable; silence may intensify pressure when pain has no form of expression.
Source note: Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3; Malcolm urges Macduff to give grief words after the news of his family’s murder.