157+ William Shakespeare Quotes

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

William Shakespeare Quotes

Here are some quotes from William Shakespeare:

  1. “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – Hamlet
  2. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
  3. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  4. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  5. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night
  6. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
  7. “Et tu, Brute?” – Julius Caesar
  8. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet
  9. “All that glitters is not gold.” – The Merchant of Venice
  10. “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – Hamlet
  11. “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble.” – Macbeth
  12. “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” – Romeo and Juliet
  13. “If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night
  14. “All’s well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  15. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
  16. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
  17. “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” – Romeo and Juliet
  18. “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
  19. “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at.” – Othello
  20. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet
  21. “To thine own self be true.” – Hamlet
  22. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – Hamlet
  23. “I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.” – As You Like It
  24. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – The Merry Wives of Windsor
  25. “The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.” – The Merchant of Venice
  26. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
  27. “I bear a charmed life.” – Macbeth
  28. “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
  29. “To be wise and love, exceeds man’s might.” – Troilus and Cressida
  30. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” – King Lear
  31. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
  32. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” – Hamlet
  33. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet
  34. “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  35. “I have not slept one wink.” – Cymbeline
  36. “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” – Henry VI, Part 2
  37. “The earth has music for those who listen.” – The Merchant of Venice
  38. “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” – Romeo and Juliet
  39. “All the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him by inchmeal a disease.” – The Tempest
  40. “The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
  41. “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Hamlet
  42. “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – Measure for Measure
  43. “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” – Macbeth
  44. “All is well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  45. “All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” – Hamlet
  46. “The love of heaven makes one heavenly.” – Love’s Labour’s Lost
  47. “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” – Othello
  48. “To do a great right do a little wrong.” – The Merchant of Venice
  49. “There’s small choice in rotten apples.” – The Taming of the Shrew
  50. “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – Hamlet
  51. “The golden age is before us, not behind us.” – Henry V
  52. “O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” – Measure for Measure
  53. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  54. “What’s past is prologue.” – The Tempest
  55. “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” – King Lear
  56. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – Measure for Measure
  57. “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.” – As You Like It
  58. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  59. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  60. “Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.” – Troilus and Cressida
  61. “I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” – The Merchant of Venice
  62. “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – Measure for Measure
  63. “All the world’s a stage.” – As You Like It
  64. “A man can die but once.” – Henry IV, Part 2
  65. “I am one who loved not wisely but too well.” – Othello
  66. “What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here?” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  67. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” – The Merchant of Venice
  68. “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – Measure for Measure
  69. “The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” – Hamlet
  70. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” – Macbeth
  71. “A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” – Richard III
  72. “To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.” – Henry VIII
  73. “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – The Merchant of Venice
  74. “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
  75. “The quality of a good leader is to listen to his followers.” – Henry VI, Part 3
  76. “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
  77. “Conscience doth make cowards of us all.” – Hamlet
  78. “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – Twelfth Night
  79. “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” – Twelfth Night
  80. “O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” – Hamlet
  81. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – Romeo and Juliet
  82. “I must be cruel only to be kind.” – Hamlet
  83. “How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!” – The Merchant of Venice
  84. “When words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain.” – Richard II
  85. “The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.” – Oscar Wilde
  86. “Tempt not a desperate man.” – Romeo and Juliet
  87. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
  88. “All things are ready, if our mind be so.” – Henry V
  89. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” – Hamlet
  90. “What’s done cannot be undone.” – Macbeth
  91. “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
  92. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night
  93. “The readiness is all.” – Hamlet
  94. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” – Hamlet
  95. “Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.” – King John
  96. “The sun of Rome is set. Our day is gone; clouds, dews, and dangers come.” – Antony and Cleopatra
  97. “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
  98. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” – Sonnet 116
  99. “When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.” – As You Like It
  100. “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.” – Julius Caesar
  101. “The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely were too long.” – Troilus and Cressida
  102. “O, it is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.” – Othello
  103. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
  104. “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – Hamlet
  105. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
  106. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
  107. “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
  108. “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” – Twelfth Night
  109. “The robb’d that smiles steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.” – Othello
  110. “All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” – Hamlet
  111. “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” – Hamlet
  112. “The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” – Othello
  113. “This world to me is but a ceaseless storm, whipped up by raging passions, fierce desires.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  114. “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” – The Merchant of Venice
  115. “The truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.” – The Merchant of Venice
  116. “The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, which hurts and is desired.” – Antony and Cleopatra
  117. “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” – Romeo and Juliet
  118. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
  119. “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – The Tempest
  120. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  121. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
  122. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” – The Merchant of Venice
  123. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest
  124. “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.” – Much Ado About Nothing
  125. “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” – Hamlet
  126. “Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.” – Julius Caesar
  127. “All the flowers of the field have been trodden on by the careless feet of the unfeeling.” – Richard II
  128. “I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” – The Merchant of Venice
  129. “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – The Merchant of Venice
  130. “The wheel is come full circle.” – King Lear
  131. “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” – Henry VI, Part 2
  132. “The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
  133. “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – As You Like It
  134. “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  135. “All’s well that ends well.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
  136. “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
  137. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – Romeo and Juliet
  138. “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – Twelfth Night
  139. “To be wise and love, exceeds man’s might.” – Troilus and Cressida
  140. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
  141. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – Julius Caesar
  142. “The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” – Hamlet
  143. “If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night
  144. “All the infections that the sun sucks up from bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make him by inchmeal a disease.” – The Tempest
  145. “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – Measure for Measure
  146. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – Hamlet
  147. “The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service.” – The Tempest
  148. “The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.” – Richard III
  149. “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” – Macbeth
  150. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
  151. “Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent.” – Much Ado About Nothing
  152. “As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.” – King Lear
  153. “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart, concealing it, will break.” – The Taming of the Shrew
  154. “For where thou art, there is the world itself, and where thou art not, desolation.” – Henry IV, Part 2
  155. “Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.” – Hamlet
  156. “Men of few words are the best men.” – Henry V
  157. “I have a kind soul that would give you thanks, and knows not how to do it but with tears.” – The Tempest
  158. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  159. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – All’s Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare Quotes

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.

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