How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
MESSENGER:
Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt,
His means most short, his creditors most strait:
Your honorable letter he desires
To those have shut him up; which failing,
Periods his comfort. (1.1.99-103)
We learn right away that many people are indebted to Timon. The messenger is sent to Timon because Ventidius knows Timon will foot the bill for his own spending... and Timon totally does foot the bill. It seems like Shakespeare is giving us a little taste of what's pretty routine around Athens.
Quote #2
APEMANTUS:
Who lives that's not depraved or depraves?
Who dies, that bears not one spurn to their graves
Of their friends' gift?
I should fear those that dance before me now
Would one day stamp upon me: 't has been done;
Men shut their doors against a setting sun. (1.2.137-142)
Apemantus's words might fall on deaf ears, but the audience sure hears. Here we get one of our first clues that all this gift-giving might not be the wisest for Timon to do. We also get one of the most famous lines in the play and a bit of foreshadowing all in one nice package.
Quote #3
FIRST LORD:
I am so far already in your gifts,—ALL:
So are we all. (1.2.170-171)
It's super significant that the person who says this doesn't even have a name. Timon isn't just giving stuff to his nearest and dearest; he's bestowing gifts on people who don't even matter to him. So what's all this stuff about friendship? If Timon is giving out stuff this indiscriminately, doesn't it suggest that the gift-giving is more about him (and his own image) than it is about his so-called friends?
Quote #4
FLAVIUS:
What will this come to?
He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
And all out of an empty coffer
Nor will he know his purse, or yield me this,
To show him what a beggar his heart is,
Being of no power to make his wishes good:
His promises fly so beyond his state
That what he speaks is all in debt; he owes
For every word: he is so kind that he now
Pays interest for 't; his land's put to their books. (1.2.190-199)
We're sensing a pattern here. It's obvious that Timon gives lavish gifts to people, and it's obvious that it's not the wisest thing to do. Here, Flavius tells us directly that Timon is already in debt, but he continues give gifts. We wonder how long that can continue… and so does Flavius. What's up with this kind of irresponsibility?
Quote #5
SEMPRONIUS:
For, in my conscience, I was the first man
That e'er received gift from him:
And does he think so backwardly of me now,
That I'll requite its last? No;
So it may prove an argument of laughter
To the rest, and 'mongst lords I be thought a fool. (3.3.17-22)
Sempronius is just about the slickest smooth talker we've ever seen. Somehow, he figures that since he was the first to receive a gift from Timon, he's the first person Timon should have asked for help—so now he's insulted and won't help Timon out at all. Did your B.S.-meter just go off the charts? Ours sure did. What's even more amazing is that Sempronius seems to think that everyone will buy this excuse. Actually, they probably will, if they even care at all.
Quote #6
FLAVIUS:
Why then preferr'd you not your sums and bills,
When your false masters eat of my lord's meat?
Then they could smile and fawn upon his debts
And take down the interest into their gluttonous maws. (3.4.50-53)
As the creditors wait at Timon's place to be paid, Flavius tells them what he really thinks about them, and it ain't pretty. He points out the two types of debt that Timon is involved in: the kind he owes to others and the kind others owe to him. No matter how you slice it, others are more in debt to him. Too bad nobody cares.
Quote #7
TIMON: You great benefactors, sprinkle our society with
thankfulness. For your own gifts, make yourselves
praised; but reserve still to give, lest your
deities be despised. Lend to each man enough, that
one need not lend to another; for were your
godheads to borrow of men, men would forsake the
gods. Make the meat be beloved more than the man
that gives it. (3.6.71-77)
If you enjoy some irony, you've come to the right place. Timon knows his fake friends have used him, and he wants to get back at them by offering this mock prayer. His talk of men taking from and not giving to the gods sets the tone for the entire banquet.
Quote #8
TIMON:
Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous,
If not a usuring kindness, and, as rich men deal gifts,
Expecting in return twenty for one? (4.3.511-513)
Suspicious of everyone, Timon questions Flavius's motives when he randomly shows up at his cave in the woods. We're interested in the way he uses gift-giving as a metaphor for friendship. It turns out that some gifts can't be bought or sold; they're given honestly, out of loyalty. Is that how Timon gave gifts? Somehow, we're not really convinced that it was.
Quote #9
PAINTER:
He and myself
Have travail'd in the great shower of your gifts,
And sweetly felt it. (5.1.67-69)
Some people just don't know when to give up. The Painter and the Poet travel to the woods to try to get more money out of Timon once they hear he's found gold. This time, Timon isn't playing: he sees right through their fake allegiance and shoos them away, but not before they can express their true interest in seeing him—gifts. They make it clear to us that the gifts are all they've wanted all along.
Quote #10
LUCIUS:
In like manner was I in debt to my importunate
business, but he would not hear my excuse. I am sorry,
when he sent to borrow of me, that my provision was
out. (3.6.13-16)
Lucius and Lucullus try to justify their actions to themselves, but we're pretty sure everyone sees right through it. Neither of these guys was in debt to anyone but Timon, but they can't help him out when he comes a-knockin'. But hey, if everyone says they can't help, then nobody needs to feel bad about it, right?