--- title: "11 Prospero Quotes by 6 authors" description: "Browse 11 Prospero quotes by 6 authors. Discover the best Prospero sayings and thoughts." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/266/william-shakespeare-4_come_come-thou-tortoise-2829240_2829240.jpg" --- > [“Come, thou tortoise!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/come-thou-tortoise/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/266/william-shakespeare-4_come_come-thou-tortoise-2829240_2829240.jpg) > [“Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/thou-poisonous-slave-got-by-the-devil-himself-upon-thy-wicked-dam/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7a/william-shakespeare-4_prospero_thou-poisonous-slave-got-by-the-devil-hi_322393.jpg) > [“Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/thou-most-lying-slave-whom-stripes-may-move-not-kindness/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46a/william-shakespeare-4_kindness_thou-most-lying-slave-whom-stripes-may-m_1921430.jpg) > [Sometimes, of course, the artist does give up, saying, in effect, "I've done enough". Prospero declares that the revels are ended, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give-up-saying-in-effect-i-ve/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e08/philip-kitcher-4028_art_sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give_1964070.jpg) > [ I saw all of the films \[based on The Tempest\] available, including the one with Helen Mirren in which Prospero is Prospera… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-tempest-available-including-the/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/margaret-atwood-40_available_i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-temp_2668077.jpg) > [Shakespeare, of course, makes us ever aware of transience, not only in the sonnets, but also powerfully in his plays - spectacles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-ronk/shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-aware-of-transience-not-only-in/) [Martha Ronk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-ronk/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/martha-ronk-20222_behinds_shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-awar_3207697.jpg) > [“Do I do as false prophets do and puff air into simulacra? Am I a Sorcerer--like Macbeth's witches--mixing truth and lies in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-air-into-simulacra-am-i-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fc/anonymous-1_acknowledge_do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-ai_2015601.jpg) > [ One of the reasons \[William\] Shakespeare is so endlessly fascinating is that you can look at that figure from about 10 different… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-is-so-endlessly-fascinating-is/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac2/margaret-atwood-40_19th-century_one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-i_412840.jpg) > [“At the happy ending of the Tempest, Prospero brings the kind back togeter with his son, and finds Miranda's true love and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prospero-brings-the-kind-back/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28f/anonymous-1_ariel_at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prosp_2660238.jpg) > [Auden, who asked two things of an imagined world-that it be somehow like ours and somehow unlike-would be Ben Marcus's ideal reader,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagined-world-that-it-be-somehow/) [Richard Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddf/richard-howard-51966_alternatives_auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagine_208261.png) > [“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes-and-groves-and-ye-that-on-the/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a5/william-shakespeare-4_brooks_ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes_2327451.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prospero/#itemlist", "name": "Prospero Quotes", "numberOfItems": 11, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Come, thou tortoise!”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Shakespeare" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/come-thou-tortoise/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/266/william-shakespeare-4_come_come-thou-tortoise-2829240_2829240.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/266/william-shakespeare-4_come_come-thou-tortoise-2829240_2829240.jpg", "url": 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Prospero declares that the revels are ended, and breaks his staff - his author retires to Stratford. At the very end, Mann did something similar. Interestingly, in both instances, death came quite quickly after that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Kitcher" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give-up-saying-in-effect-i-ve/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e08/philip-kitcher-4028_art_sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give_1964070.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e08/philip-kitcher-4028_art_sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give_1964070.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e08/philip-kitcher-4028_art_sometimes-of-course-the-artist-does-give_1964070.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sometimes, of course, the artist does give up, saying, in effect, \"I've done enough\". Prospero declares that…” — Philip Kitcher", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I saw all of the films [based on The Tempest] available, including the one with Helen Mirren in which Prospero is Prospera - you wonder, \"Would it work?\" But it does, because anything she does works.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Margaret Atwood" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-tempest-available-including-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/margaret-atwood-40_available_i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-temp_2668077.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/margaret-atwood-40_available_i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-temp_2668077.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/margaret-atwood-40_available_i-saw-all-of-the-films-based-on-the-temp_2668077.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I saw all of the films [based on The Tempest] available, including the one with Helen Mirren in which…” — Margaret Atwood", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Shakespeare, of course, makes us ever aware of transience, not only in the sonnets, but also powerfully in his plays - spectacles for a brief period of time and then gone, as when Prospero describes the pageant fading, leaving \"not a rack behind.\"", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha Ronk" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-ronk/shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-aware-of-transience-not-only-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/martha-ronk-20222_behinds_shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-awar_3207697.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/martha-ronk-20222_behinds_shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-awar_3207697.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fa/martha-ronk-20222_behinds_shakespeare-of-course-makes-us-ever-awar_3207697.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Shakespeare, of course, makes us ever aware of transience, not only in the sonnets, but also powerfully in…” — Martha Ronk", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Do I do as false prophets do and puff air into simulacra? Am I a Sorcerer--like Macbeth's witches--mixing truth and lies in incandescent shapes? Or am I a kind of very minor scribe of a prophetic Book--telling such truth as in me lies, with aid of such fiction as I acknowledge mine, as Prospero acknowledged Caliban.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anonymous" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-air-into-simulacra-am-i-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fc/anonymous-1_acknowledge_do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-ai_2015601.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fc/anonymous-1_acknowledge_do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-ai_2015601.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fc/anonymous-1_acknowledge_do-i-do-as-false-prophets-do-and-puff-ai_2015601.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Do I do as false prophets do and puff air into simulacra? Am I a Sorcerer--like Macbeth's witches--mixing…” — Anonymous", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One of the reasons [William] Shakespeare is so endlessly fascinating is that you can look at that figure from about 10 different angles: Caliban in Shakespeare's day was probably viewed as a sort of comic, barbarian type, but into the 19th century there were productions where Caliban was the hero. He's a potential rapist of a minor. Is that a good thing? No, it is not. On the other hand, Prospero's got him cooped up in a cave and tortures him if he doesn't do what Prospero wants. Is that a good thing? No. Shakespeare doesn't let you off easy.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Margaret Atwood" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-is-so-endlessly-fascinating-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac2/margaret-atwood-40_19th-century_one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-i_412840.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac2/margaret-atwood-40_19th-century_one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-i_412840.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac2/margaret-atwood-40_19th-century_one-of-the-reasons-william-shakespeare-i_412840.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One of the reasons [William] Shakespeare is so endlessly fascinating is that you can look at that figure…” — Margaret Atwood", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“At the happy ending of the Tempest, Prospero brings the kind back togeter with his son, and finds Miranda's true love and punishes the bad duke and frees Ariel and becomes a duke himself again. Everyone - except Caliban - is happy, and everyone is forgiven, and everyone is fine, and they all sail away on calm seas. Happy endings. That's how it is in Shakespeare. But Shakespeare was wrong. Sometimes there isn't a Prospero to make everything fine again. And sometimes the quality of mercy is strained.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anonymous" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prospero-brings-the-kind-back/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28f/anonymous-1_ariel_at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prosp_2660238.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28f/anonymous-1_ariel_at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prosp_2660238.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28f/anonymous-1_ariel_at-the-happy-ending-of-the-tempest-prosp_2660238.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At the happy ending of the Tempest, Prospero brings the kind back togeter with his son, and finds Miranda's…” — Anonymous", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Auden, who asked two things of an imagined world-that it be somehow like ours and somehow unlike-would be Ben Marcus's ideal reader, yet even without the poet's dire program, I am altogether taken by this hilarious and sexy alternative universe. Just imagine! it is all done with words instead of mirrors, so much more reliable and so much more heartbreaking. Thus Prospero enthralls his crew.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Howard" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagined-world-that-it-be-somehow/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddf/richard-howard-51966_alternatives_auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagine_208261.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddf/richard-howard-51966_alternatives_auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagine_208261.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ddf/richard-howard-51966_alternatives_auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagine_208261.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Auden, who asked two things of an imagined world-that it be somehow like ours and somehow unlike-would be…” — Richard Howard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him When he comes back; you demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid, Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm’d The noontide sun, call’d forth the mutinous winds, And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire and rifted Jove’s stout oak With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck’d up The pine and cedar: graves at my command Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth By my so potent art. But this rough magic I here abjure, and, when I have required Some heavenly music, which even now I do, To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Shakespeare" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes-and-groves-and-ye-that-on-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a5/william-shakespeare-4_brooks_ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes_2327451.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a5/william-shakespeare-4_brooks_ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes_2327451.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a5/william-shakespeare-4_brooks_ye-elves-of-hills-brooks-standing-lakes_2327451.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase…” — William Shakespeare", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prospero/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prospero/", "name": "Prospero Quotes", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prospero/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/266/william-shakespeare-4_come_come-thou-tortoise-2829240_2829240.jpg" }, "description": "Browse 11 Prospero quotes by 6 authors. 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