William Shakespeare Quotes

"Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none."

"Friendship is constant in all other things

Save in the office and affairs of love:

Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues;

Let every eye negotiate for itself

And trust no agent."

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The valiant never taste of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men should fear;

Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come."

"But love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit."

"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

"Truth is truth, To the end of reckoning."

"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind."

"When we are born, we cry, that we are come

To this great stage of fools."

"Mine honour is my life; both grow in one; take honour from me and my life is done."

"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war."

"So full of artless jealousy is guilt,

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt."

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones."

"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."

"I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience."

"I wish you well and so I take my leave,

I Pray you know me when we meet again."

"He who has injured thee was either stronger or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself."

"So may he rest, his faults lie gently on him!"

"His life was gentle; and the elements

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,

And say to all the world, THIS WAS A MAN!"

"There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

"Leave her to heaven

And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,

To prick and sting her."

"Strong reasons make strong actions."

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

"I pray thee cease thy counsel,

Which falls into mine ears as profitless

as water in a sieve."

"God bless thee; and put meekness in thy mind, love, charity, obedience, and true duty!"

"For they are yet ear-kissing arguments."

"See first that the design is wise and just: that ascertained, pursue it resolutely; do not for one repulse forego the purpose that you resolved to effect."

"Our doubts are traitors,"

"Assume a virtue, if you have it not."

"Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul,

But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,

Chaos is come again."

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds."

"I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

For daws to peck at."

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."

"Be great in act, as you have been in thought."

"Hereafter, in a better world than this,

I shall desire more love and knowledge of you."

"If all the year were playing holidays,

To sport would be as tedious as to work."

"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

"A wretched soul, bruised with adversity,

We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;

But were we burdened with like weight of pain,

As much or more we should ourselves complain."

"The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day

Is crept into the bosom of the sea."

"I am not bound to please thee with my answers."

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments"

"Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt."

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety."

"When griping grief the heart doth wound,

and doleful dumps the mind opresses,

then music, with her silver sound,

with speedy help doth lend redress."

"O, how this spring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day!"

"But love is blind and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit;

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush

To see me thus transformed to a boy."

"Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head. "

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."

"I’ll deeds are doubled with an evil word."

"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."

"Lady you berefit me of all words,

Only my blood speaks to you in my veins,

And there is such confusion in my powers."

"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on."

"Virtue and genuine graces in themselves speak what no words can utter."

"Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,

Till by broad spreading it disperses to naught."

"He hath eaten me out of house and home."

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

This above all"

"There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things."

"In time we hate that which we often fear."

"This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,--

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

"We have some salt of our youth in us."

"And since you know you cannot see yourself,

so well as by reflection, I, your glass,

will modestly discover to yourself,

that of yourself which you yet know not of."

"Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie."

"Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall."

"The rest is silence."

"Be not afraid of greatness"

"It is not enough to help the feeble up, but to support him after."

"Pray you now, forget and forgive."

"I hate ingratitude more in a man

than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,

or any taint of vice whose strong corruption

inhabits our frail blood."

"Although the last, not least."

"An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told."

"But, for my own part, it was Greek to me."

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below"

"Every man has his fault, and honesty is his."

"Nothing will come of nothing."

"This England never did, nor never shall,

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror."

"What a deformed thief this fashion is."

"This is the short and the long of it."

"Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge of thine own cause."

"It is a wise father that knows his own child."

"Every man has business and desire,

Such as it is."

"The fashion wears out more apparel than the man."

"Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance."

"Frailty, thy name is woman!"

"But to my mind, though I am native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honoured in the breach than the observance."

"The trust I have is in mine innocence,

and therefore am I bold and resolute."

"Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go."

"In a false quarrel there is no true valour."

"O, woe is me,

To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!"

"Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy."

"From the still-vexed Bermoothes."

"My salad days,

When I was green in judgment."

"The attempt and not the deed

Confounds us."

"The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords, in such a just an charitable war."

"He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat."

"Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that."

"How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees."

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

"It is a wise father that knows his own child."

"I pray you bear me henceforth from the noise and rumour of the field, where I may think the remnant of my thoughts in peace, and part of this body and my soul with contemplation and devout desires."

"Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits."

"Come not within the measure of my wrath."

"The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices

Make instruments to plague us."

"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much."

"The little foolery that wise men have makes a great show."

"The soul of this man is in his clothes."

"If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."

"While thou livest keep a good tongue in thy head."

"We do not keep the outward form of order, where there is deep disorder in the mind."

"The end crowns all,

And that old common arbitrator, Time,

Will one day end it."

"I understand a fury in your words,

But not the words."

"Truth is truth

To the end of reckoning."

"ld of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much."

"I have not slept one wink."

"A little more than kin, and less than kind."

"A very ancient and fish-like smell."

"He was a man, take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again."

"This is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers.... There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death."

"What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?"

"The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept."

"I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness and the bettering of my mind."

"Your face is a book, where men may read strange matters."

"Pity is the virture of the law, and none but tyrants use it cruelly."

"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is."

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince"

"How use doth breed a habit in a man."

"We burn daylight."

"How use doth breed a habit in a man!"

"Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood."

"Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast."

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

"Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear."

"I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I."

"I am not merry; but I do beguile

The thing I am, by seeming otherwise."

"For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men."

"A kind

Of excellent dumb discourse."

"Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow."

"Merrily, merrily shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough."

"I have Immortal longings in me."

"Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"

"My library

Was dukedom large enough."

"Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing."

Quotations 141 to 150 of 197

"When he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast."

"If there be no great love in the beginning, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance, when we are married and have more occasion to know one another"

"You cram these words into mine ears against the stomach of my sense."

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"True is it that we have seen better days."

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!"

"Small to greater matters must give way."

"Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

"A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"

"They say, best men are moulded out of faults,

And, for the most, become much more the better

For being a little bad."

"I must be cruel only to be kind;

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind."

"The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good."

"Their understanding

Begins to swell and the approaching tide

Will shortly fill the reasonable shores

That now lie foul and muddy."

"How many ages hence

Shall this our lofty scene be acted over

In states unborn and accents yet unknown!"

"We have seen better days."

"I would fain die a dry death."

"Thy words, I grant are bigger, for I wear not, my dagger in my mouth."

"The fringed curtains of thine eye advance."

"My meaning in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me that he is sufficient."

"Full fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange."

"Cursed be he that moves my bones."

"By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

Open, locks,

Whoever knocks!"

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

"I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another."

"The worst is not

So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'"

"Speak to me as to thy thinkings,

As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts

The worst of words."

"And many strokes, though with a little axe,

Hew down and fell the hardest-timbered oak."

"It is a familiar beast to man, and signifies love."

"Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground."

"Beware the ides of March."

"Your hearts are mighty, your skins are whole."

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."

"Like one

Who having into truth, by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie."

"I dote on his very absence."

"The devil hath power

To assume a pleasing shape."

"Thou art all the comfort,

The Gods will diet me with."

"Fill all thy bones with aches."

"He is winding the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike."

"That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,

If with his tongue he cannot win a woman."

"I will make a Star-chamber matter of it."

"Thou art the Mars of malcontents."

"The game is up."

"I will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently."

"A hit, a very palpable hit."

"Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners."

"Et tu, Brute!"

"O Lord that lends me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

"Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York,

And all the clouds that loured upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,

Our bruised arms hung up for monuments,

Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,

Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.

Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front;

And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds

To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,

He capers nimbly in a lady\'s chamber

To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,

Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

I, that am rudely stamped, and want love\'s majesty

To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;

I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,

Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time

Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me as I halt by them,--

Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,

Have no delight to pass away the time,

Unless to spy my shadow in the sun."