William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor who lived during the Elizabethan era.
His works are considered some of the greatest works in the English language, and his plays have been performed for centuries.
Shakespeare’s quotes are famous for their depth, insight, and beauty. Here are some of the characteristics of his quotes:
- Poetic language: Shakespeare’s language is poetic, using rich and vivid metaphors, similes, and imagery. His quotes are often rhythmic, making them memorable and easy to recite.
- Timeless themes: Shakespeare’s quotes explore universal themes that are still relevant today, such as love, friendship, jealousy, betrayal, and power. They capture the complexities of human emotions and relationships.
- Multiple meanings: Shakespeare’s quotes are often layered with multiple meanings and interpretations, making them open to different readings and understandings.
- Wit and humor: Shakespeare was known for his wit and humor, and many of his quotes are clever and witty, with a playful use of language.
- Memorable phrases: Shakespeare’s quotes are often memorable, with catchy phrases that stick in the mind long after they have been read or heard.
- Philosophical insights: Shakespeare’s quotes often contain philosophical insights, offering deep reflections on the human condition and the nature of existence.
Overall, Shakespeare’s quotes are known for their beauty, depth, and versatility, making them a source of inspiration and wisdom for generations of readers and audiences.
We have many to share in this article.
Let’s check them out 🙂
William Shakespeare Quotes
Here are some quotes from William Shakespeare:
- “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – Hamlet
- “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
- “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night
- “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
- “Et tu, Brute?” – Julius Caesar
- “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “All that glitters is not gold.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – Hamlet
- “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble.” – Macbeth
- “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night
- “All’s well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
- “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
- “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!” – Hamlet
- “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at.” – Othello
- “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet
- “To thine own self be true.” – Hamlet
- “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – Hamlet
- “I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.” – As You Like It
- “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – The Merry Wives of Windsor
- “The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
- “I bear a charmed life.” – Macbeth
- “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” – Macbeth
- “To be wise and love, exceeds man’s might.” – Troilus and Cressida
- “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” – King Lear
- “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
- “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” – Hamlet
- “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “I have not slept one wink.” – Cymbeline
- “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” – Henry VI, Part 2
- “The earth has music for those who listen.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” – Romeo and Juliet
- “All the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him by inchmeal a disease.” – The Tempest
- “The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
- “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Hamlet
- “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – Measure for Measure
- “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” – Macbeth
- “All is well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” – Hamlet
- “The love of heaven makes one heavenly.” – Love’s Labour’s Lost
- “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” – Othello
- “To do a great right do a little wrong.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “There’s small choice in rotten apples.” – The Taming of the Shrew
- “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – Hamlet
- “The golden age is before us, not behind us.” – Henry V
- “O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” – Measure for Measure
- “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “What’s past is prologue.” – The Tempest
- “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” – King Lear
- “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – Measure for Measure
- “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.” – As You Like It
- “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.” – Troilus and Cressida
- “I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – Measure for Measure
- “All the world’s a stage.” – As You Like It
- “A man can die but once.” – Henry IV, Part 2
- “I am one who loved not wisely but too well.” – Othello
- “What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here?” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – Measure for Measure
- “The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” – Hamlet
- “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” – Macbeth
- “A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” – Richard III
- “To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.” – Henry VIII
- “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “The quality of a good leader is to listen to his followers.” – Henry VI, Part 3
- “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!” – Hamlet
- “Conscience doth make cowards of us all.” – Hamlet
- “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – Twelfth Night
- “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” – Twelfth Night
- “O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” – Hamlet
- “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “I must be cruel only to be kind.” – Hamlet
- “How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!” – The Merchant of Venice
- “When words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain.” – Richard II
- “The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Tempt not a desperate man.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
- “All things are ready, if our mind be so.” – Henry V
- “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” – Hamlet
- “What’s done cannot be undone.” – Macbeth
- “Men at some time are masters of their fates; The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – Julius Caesar
- “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night
- “The readiness is all.” – Hamlet
- “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” – Hamlet
- “Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.” – King John
- “The sun of Rome is set. Our day is gone; clouds, dews, and dangers come.” – Antony and Cleopatra
- “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” – The Merchant of Venice
- “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” – Sonnet 116
- “When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.” – As You Like It
- “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.” – Julius Caesar
- “The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely were too long.” – Troilus and Cressida
- “O, it is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.” – Othello
- “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
- “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – Hamlet
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
- “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
- “I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” – Twelfth Night
- “The robb’d that smiles steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.” – Othello
- “All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” – Hamlet
- “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” – Hamlet
- “The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” – Othello
- “This world to me is but a ceaseless storm, whipped up by raging passions, fierce desires.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “The truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, which hurts and is desired.” – Antony and Cleopatra
- “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
- “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – The Tempest
- “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
- “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
- “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.” – Much Ado About Nothing
- “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” – Hamlet
- “Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.” – Julius Caesar
- “All the flowers of the field have been trodden on by the careless feet of the unfeeling.” – Richard II
- “I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – The Merchant of Venice
- “The wheel is come full circle.” – King Lear
- “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” – Henry VI, Part 2
- “The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
- “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – As You Like It
- “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “All’s well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
- “The world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” – As You Like It
- “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – Romeo and Juliet
- “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – Twelfth Night
- “To be wise and love, exceeds man’s might.” – Troilus and Cressida
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
- “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – Julius Caesar
- “The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” – Hamlet
- “If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night
- “All the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him by inchmeal a disease.” – The Tempest
- “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – Measure for Measure
- “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – Hamlet
- “The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service.” – The Tempest
- “The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.” – Richard III
- “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” – Macbeth
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
- “Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent.” – Much Ado About Nothing
- “As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.” – King Lear
- “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart, concealing it, will break.” – The Taming of the Shrew
- “For where thou art, there is the world itself, and where thou art not, desolation.” – Henry IV, Part 2
- “Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.” – Hamlet
- “Men of few words are the best men.” – Henry V
- “I have a kind soul that would give you thanks, and knows not how to do it but with tears.” – The Tempest
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
Conclusion – William Shakespeare Quotes
William Shakespeare, the renowned English playwright and poet, is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language.
He has left a lasting impact on literature and culture with his plays, sonnets, and quotes. His works explore timeless themes such as love, tragedy, power, and human nature.
His words continue to resonate with audiences today, as his wisdom and insights into the human condition are still relevant in modern times.
From “To be, or not to be” to “All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare’s quotes have become part of our cultural lexicon and continue to inspire and captivate people around the world.
