How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #7
TROILUS
O Cressida! but that the busy day,
Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows,
And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer,
I would not from thee.CRESSIDA
Night hath been too brief.TROILUS
Beshrew the witch! with venomous wights she stays
As tediously as hell, but flies the grasps of love
With wings more momentary-swift than thought.
You will catch cold, and curse me.CRESSIDA
Prithee, tarry:
You men will never tarry. (4.2.8-16)
Don't you hate it when your one-night stand won't even make you breakfast in the morning? Even though it's clear that Troilus isn't happy about leaving, he's still pretty eager to get on with his "busy day," despite the fact that he says the night has "been too brief."
Quote #8
Time, force, and death, Do to this body what extremes you can; But the strong base and building of my love Is as the very centre of the earth, Drawing all things to it. (4.2.101-105)
Cressida sees her love as something that's strong enough to resist "Time" or "death," even if her physical body will eventually grow old and die. This is ironic, of course, because she betrays Troilus about a nanosecond after she promises she'll be true to him forever. Still, the idea that love is timeless is pretty appealing.
Quote #9
Injurious time now with a robber's haste Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how: (4.4.43-44)
When Cressida is taken away from him, Troilus declares that time has robbed him of his love. Later, when he finds out that she is unfaithful to him, he says "Never did young man fancy / with so external and so fixed a soul" (5.2.166-167). It almost seems like Troilus thinks that time can make Cressida into two different people—the faithful girl of the past and the unfaithful girl of the present.