"I’m so upset that it feels like my heart’s about to burst. Men think we are so shrewd and cunning…But look around you. We were supposed to meet on important business, but instead all the women are lying around, sleeping."
Lysistrata says this in the first scene to express her disappointment with the women of Greece, who are not showing up for the meeting she has called. She bemoans the fact that men are always calling women cunning, but they cannot even get it together to attend a meeting she has called.
"What are we supposed to do? We don’t have many options. All we can do is lie around in slinky gowns, all made up and perfumed, wearing pretty little shoes."
When Lysistrata talks about how all of the women have the shared desire to end the war, Calonice chimes in, suggesting that they have few options for helping the situation, as they can only use their feminine charms, since they have no political power. This perfectly sets up Lysistrata's scheme.
"Not fucking is difficult, is true. Is nice to have man in bed. But war is more difficult. So if no fucking for no war then yes, no fucking, I say."
This line is delivered by the Spartan woman, Lampito, who is portrayed in the play as somewhat dim-witted, but also agreeable to Lysistrata's plan. Here, she expresses her hesitations about eschewing sex, but then agrees that war is worse than any temporary lack of sexual fulfillment may be.
"I was just watering you, to help you grow."
In Chorus 1, the men threaten to fight the women with fire, but the chorus of women throw cold water on the men, which sends them retreating. When the men protest this action, the women's leader insists that she was just watering them. This is a double entendre, in that it refers to the fact that she has dumped water on them, but also refers to the fact that the women are aiming to extinguish the "fire" of male desire by being cold and refusing sex.
"It serves us right! We encourage them in their wantonness. Listen to what I heard a man say in the marketplace: 'Jeweller,' he said, 'you remember this trinket of my wife’s? Well, she was partying, last night, when a rod came loose and thrust straight through the hole. It went in, and it went out, again and again. I’m not sure what to do, because I’m leaving town, but maybe you could drop by and make sure that hole gets what it needs.”"
In Scene 2, the Magistrate says this line as a way of diagnosing the problem that the women have created in the community. He suggests that men encourage their wives' "wantonness," and that they have brought this rebellion on themselves. His philosophy suggests that men ought to be stricter with women if they want them to obey and listen to them.
"The women are the pawns of those Spartan dogs.
They have betrayed us and for no cause.
Without sex what will happen to our great State?
Democracy will end if we can’t copulate."
The Chorus of Men sing this in Chorus 2, suggesting that the women are compromising their democracy by rebelling in this way, and are being disloyal to Greek interests.
"Oh, great tragedy! My cock has been left, abandoned and bereft. Poor boy, left alone, in such a cruel, cruel world. Who will help you? Where will you turn for just a moment’s kindness? I shall have to hire a nurse, to help you through this great trial."
Cinesias says this line when Myrrhina denies him sex, leading him on in a particularly excruciating way. Knowing that he is wild with desire for her, she is slowly setting up a bed on which they can have sex, but keeps going back into the Acropolis to get another item. When she runs off a final time, leaving him in the throes of desire, he becomes despondent, even going so far as to suggest that he needs a nurse to look after him.
LEADER (MEN): There is no beast more shameless than a woman. Even fire is less savage.
LEADER (WOMEN): You know this, and yet you choose to fight us, when we could be your friends instead.
In Chorus 4, the leader of the chorus of men bemoans the fact that the women of the community are being so unforgiving and punishing to them. The leader of the women offers a simple enough counteroffer, suggesting that perhaps the men ought to just listen to and make peace with the women, rather than fight them. Here, she presents the option to create peace as simple and uncontroversial.
"Eloquent but not verbose, uncompromising but willing to negotiate, exacting but forgiving."
This is how the leader of the chorus of women describes Lysistrata, the women's leader, as she enters in the final scene. Each of her attributes is presented with its opposite, a way of showing just how reasonable and even-handed Lysistrata is. She is very eloquent, but does not speak at length, she sticks to her morals, but is also willing to talk things through, and highly demanding and tough, but also forgiving and generous.
"Peace has nice ass."
While negotiating with Cinesias and the Spartan herald, Lysistrata brings a naked, walking statue, which she calls "Peace," out for all to see. Cinesias and the herald are distracted by Peace throughout the peace talks, and agree to Lysistrata's stipulations in large part because of their extreme lust for Peace. This line, uttered by the Spartan herald, is a joke on the fact that she is called "Peace"—the very agreement that Lysistrata is seeking.
