# Result number

Work The work is either a play, poem, or sonnet. The sonnets are treated as single work with 154 parts.

Character Indicates who said the line. If it's a play or sonnet, the character name is "Poet."

Line Shows where the line falls within the work.

The numbering is not keyed to any copyrighted numbering system found in a volume of collected works (Arden, Oxford, etc.) The numbering starts at the beginning of the work, and does not restart for each scene.

Text The line's full text, with keywords highlighted within it, unless highlighting has been disabled by the user.

1

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Leonato

53

You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a
kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her:
they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit
between them.

2

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Leonato

94

Her mother hath many times told me so.

3

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

95

Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?

4

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

101

If Signior Leonato be her father, she would not
have his head on her shoulders for all Messina, as
like him as she is.

5

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Beatrice

107

Is it possible disdain should die while she hath
such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?
Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come
in her presence.

6

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

147

I noted her not; but I looked on her.

7

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

153

Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a high
praise, too brown for a fair praise and too little
for a great praise: only this commendation I can
afford her, that were she other than she is, she
were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I
do not like her.

8

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Claudio

159

Thou thinkest I am in sport: I pray thee tell me
truly how thou likest her.

9

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

161

Would you buy her, that you inquire after her?

10

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

170

I can see yet without spectacles and I see no such
matter: there's her cousin, an she were not
possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty
as the first of May doth the last of December. But I
hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?

11

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Don Pedro

200

Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy.

12

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Claudio

205

That I love her, I feel.

13

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Benedick

214

That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she
brought me up, I likewise give her most humble
thanks: but that I will have a recheat winded in my
forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick,
all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do
them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the
right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which
I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.

14

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Don Pedro

266

No child but Hero; she's his only heir.
Dost thou affect her, Claudio?

15

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Claudio

268

O, my lord,
When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye,
That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love:
But now I am return'd and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars.

16

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Don Pedro

278

Thou wilt be like a lover presently
And tire the hearer with a book of words.
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it,
And I will break with her and with her father,
And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end
That thou began'st to twist so fine a story?

17

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 1]

Don Pedro

288

What need the bridge much broader than the flood?
The fairest grant is the necessity.
Look, what will serve is fit: 'tis once, thou lovest,
And I will fit thee with the remedy.
I know we shall have revelling to-night:
I will assume thy part in some disguise
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio,
And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart
And take her hearing prisoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then after to her father will I break;
And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.
In practise let us put it presently.

18

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 2]

Antonio

308

As the event stamps them: but they have a good
cover; they show well outward. The prince and Count
Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine
orchard, were thus much overheard by a man of mine:
the prince discovered to Claudio that he loved my
niece your daughter and meant to acknowledge it
this night in a dance: and if he found her
accordant, he meant to take the present time by the
top and instantly break with you of it.

19

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 2]

Leonato

320

No, no; we will hold it as a dream till it appear
itself: but I will acquaint my daughter withal,
that she may be the better prepared for an answer,
if peradventure this be true. Go you and tell her of it.
[Enter Attendants]
Cousins, you know what you have to do. O, I cry you
mercy, friend; go you with me, and I will use your
skill. Good cousin, have a care this busy time.

20

Much Ado about Nothing
[I, 3]

Borachio

382

Being entertained for a perfumer, as I was smoking a
musty room, comes me the prince and Claudio, hand
in hand in sad conference: I whipt me behind the
arras; and there heard it agreed upon that the
prince should woo Hero for himself, and having
obtained her, give her to Count Claudio.