# Racine's most famous lines

'It is Venus herself fastened on her prey', 'I loved you fickle; what would I have done had you been faithful?', 'For whom are these serpents hissing on your heads?': the most quoted lines of Phaedra (1677) and Andromache (1667), checked against the text, with act and scene.

- 2 votes · 14 items
- Aug 17, 2021 · laura_citations
- https://even.best/en/l/4664/racine-s-most-famous-lines

## Top 14

1. **It was you who named him!** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra to Oenone, when Hippolytus's name is spoken.
2. **It is no longer a passion hidden in my veins: it is Venus herself fastened on her prey.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra.
3. **The decision is made: I am leaving, dear Theramenes.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 1, Hippolytus, first line.
4. **Everything grieves me, harms me, and conspires to harm me.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra.
5. **Gods! Why am I not sitting in the shade of the forests!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra.
6. **Ariadne, my sister! wounded by what love you died on the shore where you were left!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra.
7. **I saw him, I blushed, I grew pale at the sight of him.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act I, scene 3, Phaedra.
8. **Daylight is no purer than the depths of my heart.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Phaedra, act IV, scene 2, Hippolytus to Theseus.
9. **Yes, since I find again so faithful a friend…** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act I, scene 1, Orestes, first line.
10. **I have not yet kissed him today!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act I, scene 4, Andromache, about her son.
11. **Ah, I have loved him too much not to hate him!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act II, scene 1, Hermione.
12. **I loved you fickle; what would I have done had you been faithful?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act IV, scene 5, Hermione to Pyrrhus.
13. **Who told you to?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act V, scene 3, Hermione to Orestes, who has just killed Pyrrhus for her.
14. **For whom are these serpents hissing on your heads?** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Andromache, act V, scene 5, Orestes seized by madness.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.