Love's Labour's Lost Education Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line)

Quote #7

KING
that unlettered, small-knowing soul,—
COSTARD
Me? (1.1.253-254)

Almost everyone in the play makes jokes about Costard's ignorance and lack of education, but the erudite lords spend the play learning what the rustic has long known about love.

Quote #8

BEROWNE
For where is author in the world
Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye? (4.3.312-313, Arden Edition)

This rhetorical question is at the heart of the play. Love – and by extension, living life – teaches more than book study.

Why Arden edition? A big chunk of Berowne's monologue is cut from the Folger's edition because it was not in the original draft of the play (and thus of questionable origin).

Quote #9

HOLOFERNES
I abhor
[...]
such rackers of orthography,
as to speak 'dout,' fine, when he should
say 'doubt'; 'det' when he should pronounce
'debt'—d, e, b, t, not d, e, t. (5.1.18; 20-23)

Overly pedantic teachers like Holofernes are why learning and education often get a negative rap.