Macbeth Key Quotes: 25 Haunting Lines You Must Know

Macbeth's lines are more than drama — they are compact lessons in ambition, courage, regret, and resolve. These macbeth key quotes distill powerful emotions into memorable phrases you can turn to when you need impetus, clarity, or courage. Use them to spark action, steady your nerve, reflect on life’s turns, or lend words to a moment of fierce resolve.

Motivational quotes

• "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." — Macbeth
• "Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." — Lady Macbeth
• "I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none." — Macbeth
• "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir." — Macbeth
• "Lay on, Macduff; and damned be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" — Macbeth

Inspirational quotes

• "Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day." — Macbeth
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." — Lady Macbeth
• "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." — Macbeth
• "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed." — Macbeth
• "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!" — Witches

Life-wisdom quotes

• "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day..." — Macbeth
• "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage." — Macbeth
• "Out, out, brief candle!" — Macbeth
• "What's done is done." — Lady Macbeth
• "There is no art to find the mind's construction in the face." — Duncan

Ambition & success quotes

• "Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other." — Macbeth
• "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition." — Macbeth
• "From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand." — Macbeth
• "To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus." — Macbeth
• "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." — Macbeth

Courage & resolve quotes

• "Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." — Apparitions
• "I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born." — Macbeth
• "I have almost forgot the taste of fears." — Macbeth
• "Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time." — Macbeth
• "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." — Witch

Fate & reflection quotes

• "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?" — Witches
• "Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it." — Malcolm
• "The instruments of darkness tell us truths, to win us with honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence." — Banquo
• "There's husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out." — Banquo
• "The night has been unruly." — Lennox

Quotes from Macbeth are haunting because they are honest — full of ambition, fear, courage, and consequence. Keep a few of these macbeth key quotes handy: they can push you to act, give language to complex feelings, or steady you when the day feels dark.

Short conclusion: A single line can reframe a morning, steady a hard decision, or remind you of what you value. Let these Macbeth quotes become tools: memorize the ones that move you, repeat them when you need resolve, and watch how a few words can transform mindset and daily life.