Be Or Not To Be Quotes

To be or not to be! Hamlet!! I beg to differ! How much more limiting could that question be? How much more restraining could it ever get? Do we only have two possible answers to a question? Do we only have two things to choose from? Are our options so restricted? Are we so grounded? Have we gone color blind? When did our retinas stop seeing the colors of a rainbow? Why do we print our experiences in duotone? In a game of multiple choice questions, how many answers could be correct? What number of choices do we have? Who gives us the options? When do we have to submit our selections? Who decides if we passed or failed? ~ Marwa Rakha

The character and the play of Hamlet are central to any discussion of Shakespeare's work. Hamlet has been described as melancholic and neurotic, as having an Oedipus complex, as being a failure and indecisive, as well as being a hero, and a perfect Renaissance prince. These judgements serve perhaps only to show how many interpretations of one character may be put forward. 'To be or not to be' is the centre of Hamlet's questioning. Reasons not to go on living outnumber reasons for living. But he goes on living, until he completes his revenge for his father's murder, and becomes 'most royal', the true 'Prince of Denmark' (which is the play's subtitle), in many ways the perfection of Renaissance man.
Hamlet's progress is a 'struggle of becoming' - of coming to terms with life, and learning to accept it, with all its drawbacks and challenges. He discusses the problems he faces directly with the audience, in a series of seven soliloquies - of which 'To be or not to be' is the fourth and central one. These seven steps, from the zero-point of a desire not to live, to complete awareness and acceptance (as he says, 'the readiness is all'), give a structure to the play, making the progress all the more tragic, as Hamlet reaches his aim, the perfection of his life, only to die. ~ Ronald Carter

[As] authorities "over" us are removed, as we wobble out on our own, the question of whether to be or not to be arises with real relevance for the first time, since the burden of being is felt most fully by the self-determining self. ~ William H Gass

To be or not to be?' That is not the question. What is the question? The question is not one of being, but of becoming. 'To become more or not to become more' This is the question faced by each intelligence in our universe. ~ Truman G. Madsen

My brain didn't seem to want to conform itself to the task at hand and kept wandering to stupid things like a compulsion to line up all the blue M&Ms or count how many times the word "to" appeared in the "To be or not to be" speech (fifteen, as it turns out). ~ E.E. Holmes

To BE or not to BE depends on what you BElieve. If you BElieve you BElong, then that is how you will BEhave! BE-cause that is what you BE and have. So help others BEhave by helping them to BElieve they BElong. And then, everyone can always say they BE-LIVED! ~ Jack A. Langedijk

To be or not to be isn't the question. The question is how to prolong being. ~ Tom Robbins

Happiness is a choice. To be or not to be. It all depends on how you perceive life. ~ KC

When question arise
Be or not to be
Always be. ~ Debasish Mridha

To be or not to be, fucked up on whiskey, that is the question. ~ Robert Black

Five billion people have played Hamlet. 'To be or not to be.' And how do you do that and find your way into your own journey, your own way of telling it? ~ Annette Bening

There was shuffling and rustling around me, then Henry Reed was giving his valedictory address, "To Be or Not to Be." Hadn't he heard the whitefolks? We couldn't be, so the question was a waste of time. Henry's voice came out clear and strong. I feared to look at him. Hadn't he got the message? There was no "nobler in the mind" for Negroes because the world didn't think we had minds, and they let us know it. "Outrageous fortune"? Now, that was a joke. When the ceremony was over I had to tell Henry Reed some things. That is, if I still cared. Not "rub," Henry, "erase." "Ah, there's the erase." Us. Henry had been a good student in elocution. His voice rose on tides of promise and fell on waves of warnings. The English teacher had helped him to create a sermon winging through Hamlet's soliloquy. To be a man, a doer, a builder, a leader, or to be a tool, an unfunny joke, a crusher of funky toadstools. I marveled that Henry could go through with the speech as if we had a choice. I had been listening and silently rebutting each sentence with my eyes closed; then there was a hush, which in an audience warns that something unplanned is happening. ~ Maya Angelou

To be friends.... or not... to be or not... to be or not.... ~ Deyth Banger

Now or neverI 'To be or not to be!' - Oblomov raised himself from his chair a little, but failing to find his slippers with his feet at once, sat down again. ~ Ivan Goncharov

To be or not to be, that's the question ~ William Shakespeare

En Lima to be or not to be significan la misma cosa ~ Gunter Silva Passuni

Reason is your means of survival - so that for you, who are a human being, the question 'to be or not to be' is the question 'to think or not to think..'. ~ Ayn Rand

To be or not to be is not the question, the vital question is how to be and how not to be ... ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

To be or not to be" was the telephone number of the municipal gas chambers of the Federal Bureau of Termination. ~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I know that David Tennant's Hamlet isn't till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who in Hamlet jokes, so this is just me getting it out of the way early, to avoid the rush ...
To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll ... More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you're looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and ... for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button? ~ Neil Gaiman

To be or not to be, that is out of the question! I live in the 21st century. ~ Ljupka Cvetanova

LEELA: 'To be, or not to be, that is the question.' That is a very stupid question!
THE DOCTOR: It's Shakespeare.
LEELA: And that is a very stupid name. You do not shake a spear, you throw it! Throwspeare, now that is a name. ~ John Dorney

The question is not "To be or not to be," it is what we should be until we are not. ~ Soren Kierkegaard

To be mad is worse than not to be if this is what it is. ~ Johnny Rich

To be or not to be. God's gift to animals is they don't get a choice. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

To date or not to date that is the question. It's almost as important as Shakespeare's to be or not to be which deals with death. ~ Al Goldstein

To be, or not to be ... a potato ~ Me

I was emotional. I wanted to be taken seriously. I was pretty emo. I was reciting Shakespeare monologues when I was 10. I still know the whole 'To be, or not to be ... ' monologue, because I knew it when I was 10. ~ Constance Wu

To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don't be. ~ Golda Meir

I give away examples! ~ Ljupka Cvetanova

Strangman shrugged theatrically. "It might," he repeated with great emphasis. "Let's admit that. It makes it more interesting - particularly for Kerans. 'Did I or did I not try to kill myself?' One of the few existential absolutes, far more significant than 'To be or not to be?', which merely underlines the uncertainty of the suicide, rather than the eternal ambivalence of his victim." He smiled down patronisingly at Kerans as the latter sat quietly in his chair, sipping at the drink Beatrice had brought him. "Kerans, I envy you the task of finding out - if you can. ~ J.G. Ballard

To be or not to be ... that is an incomplete question. Dr. Jayce O'Neal ~ Jayce O'Neal

And To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or, by opposing, end them. ~ William Shakespeare

Welcome my new paranoia, if you are not my reality, so where the hell is the fucking reality!?!?! To be or not to be?! this is the paranoia of my sweet dreams. So you are more than welcome to my paradox, to my mind, to my existence. Consume from my brains flesh. There is no ending of this portion for you. My mind is the Prometheus of the time. Endless resource for paranoia. ~ Fereidoon Yazdi

To be or not to be what exactly? ~ Chloe Thurlow

I am sick and tired of putting all my effort of living; and, at the end of the day. The effort results to 0. Often questioning why am I on earth?!?!?!? When the only thing I will know is pain, suffering, people trying to control me, God ignoring me and my needs, etc.
I am not saying what other people are saying is wrong; and, they are not trying to help me out. But, I will let God make that call whether I am right or I am wrong. Who I need to be or not to be. Where I stand or where I fall. ~ Temitope Owosela

If you were to ask everyone what 'Hamlet' was about, they might say, "It's about a prince, and he says, 'To be or not to be.'" ~ Orlando Bloom

Curiously, Laura Warholic is one of those novels in which the characters actually read books.You don't often see this in contemporary fiction. People resent polysyllabic words, find it showing off, never look them up, refuse to play. Words are to a writer what paint is to an artist. I am amazed at how readers refuse to enjoy the out-of-the-way fact, the astonishing detail, the original thought. Style is taken as an affront by stupid and lazy people. Just say it, they say. Sure! Should I die or should I live basically sums up Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy. Why didn't he just say so!? ~ Alexander Theroux

The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. ~ William Shakespeare

HAMLET To be or not to be - that is the question: 64 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 65 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 66 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles 67 And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep - 68 No more - and by a sleep to say we end 69 The heartache and the thousand natural shocks 70 That flesh is heir to - 'tis a consummation 71 Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep - 72 To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub, 73 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 74 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, ~ William Shakespeare

To be or not to be. Choose be. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Just before we have sex, the question often is: To pee, or not to pee? ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

to be or not to be ~ Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Everything necessarily is or is not, and will be or will not be; but one cannot divide and say that one or the other is necessary.I mean, for example: it is necessary for there to be or not to be a sea-battle tomorrow; but it is not necessary for a sea-battle to take place tomorrow, or for one not to take place
though it is necessary for one to take place or not to take place. ~ Aristotle.

My favorite play is Hamlet. It was my first love when it comes to Shakespeare, and I've read it and seen it performed more than just about every other Shakespeare play. I've had the "To be or not to be" monologue memorized since I was 15, and it's just really close to my heart. ~ Ian Doescher

To be or not to be wasn't the question meant; it was the secret answer hidden in riddled defense. ~ Michael Anthony Gill-Branion

What went wrong? That is the question, and not "To be or not to be," for all of Shakespeare. ~ Gene Wolfe

A new report claims that William Shakespeare was a marijuana user and may have been high when he wrote some of his plays. Which explains that one line: 'To be, or not to be ... Wait, what was the question?' ~ Jimmy Fallon

To be, or not to be: what a question! ~ E.A. Bucchianeri

It upsets women to be, or not to be, stared at hungrily. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be. Every time you don't throw yourself down the stairs, that's a choice. Every time you don't crash your car, you re-enlist. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub. ~ William Shakespeare

Forgive me for not being able to be with you. ~ Iris Murdoch

It is a land of Wonders!
It is a land of Mystery.
It is a land that Time Forgot (or chose specifically not to remember).
Cut off from the civilized world for untold years, this land is called:
Delaware. ~ M T Anderson

It's hard not to be excited when you're going to find a way to land on the moon. ~ Alan Bean

It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that it is good to learn ... that it is of the highest value to share your knowledge ... with anyone who is interested ... that the knowledge of the world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of intrinsic value to humanity ~ J. Robert Oppenheimer

Hollywood ... that's not going to be my niche at all. If anyone is going wants to work with me, I would think it's going to be independent films. I'm not 22! ~ Lesley Manville

I always wanted to be a writer ... 'Critical Care' was my first published work. I was 34 when it came out. I was accumulating 'Critical Care' for years. I would go for a whole year and not touch it. And then I'd go back to it. ~ Richard Dooling

David's mother would often tell him stories were alive. They weren't alive in the way people were alive,or even dogs or cats. People were alive whether you chose to notice them or not, while dogs tended to make you notice them if they decided that you weren't paying enough attention. Cats, meanwhile, were very good at pretending people didn't exist at all when it suited them ... ~ John Connolly

Is there not
A tongue in every star that talks with man,
And wooes him to be wise? nor wooes in vain;
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars. ~ Anna Laetitia Barbauld

I am convinced that in order for you, as a patient, to be protected, it has to be transparent, evidence-based, objective information. Not self-serving information. Not pharma-driven information. Not ad-driven information. It is transparent, objective, evidence-based information. ~ Patrick Soon-Shiong

Once, long ago, when I was still young, when the memories were far
more vivid than they are now, I often tried to write about her. But I
couldn't produce a line. I knew that if that first line would come, the
rest would pour itself onto the page, but I could never make it happen.
Everything was too sharp and clear, so that I could never tell where to
start -the way a map that shows too much can sometimes be useless.
Now, though, I realize that all I can place in the imperfect vessel of
writing are imperfect memories and imperfect thoughts. The more the
memories of Naoko inside me fade, the more deeply I am able to
understand her. I know, too, why she asked me not to forget her.
Naoko herself knew, of course. She knew that my memories of her
would fade. Which is precisely why she begged me never to forget
her, to remember that she had existed. ~ Haruki Murakami

To have understanding is not to be religious ~ Sunday Adelaja

Fairy tale doesn't always have a happy ending. But still, it's a fairy tale.
So does first love. It might not be happy, but it doesn't have always to be sad. It's just love. ~ Dian Purnomo

It was sick, really, the way I felt when he told me he couldn't love me. After months of being together, of sharing mind, body, and soul, he couldn't love me. And I should have been angry, and I should have been glad to be rid of him, but I was only sad. I was only hurt because I felt it was my fault. I'm not good enough, not interesting enough, not sexy enough.
I'm not enough for him.
One day he will love someone easily,
and she is not me.
It was sick, because it is such a privilege to be loved by me, to capture my heart the way he did, and yet I let him make me feel as if it was my fault he threw it away, like it was the diamond that was stupid instead of the diver who passed it up for rocks, instead.

Diamond
- K ~ Brittainy C. Cherry

I am already sensible of decay in the power of walking, and find my memory not so faithful as it used to be. This may be partly owing to the incessant current of new matter flowing constantly through it; but I ascribe to years their share in it also. ~ Thomas Jefferson

What do you think of Lord St. Vincent?" Pandora asked eagerly.
West's gaze moved to a man who appeared to be a younger version of his sire, with bronze-gold hair that gleamed like new-minted coins. Princely handsome. A cross between Adonis and the Royal Coronation Coach.
With deliberate casualness, West said, "He's not as tall as I expected."
Pandora looked affronted. "He's every bit as tall as you!"
"I'll eat my hat if he's an inch over four foot seven." West clicked his tongue in a few disapproving tsk-tsks. "And still in short trousers."
Half annoyed, half amused, Pandora gave him a little shove. "That's his younger brother Ivo, who is eleven. The one next to him is my fiancé."
"Aah. Well, I can see why you'd want to marry that one. ~ Lisa Kleypas

As an architect, I try to be guided not by habit but by a conscious sense of the past-by precedent, thoughtfully considered ... As an artist, I frankly write about what I like in architecture: complexity and contradiction. From what we find we like-what we are easily attracted to-we can learn much of what we really are. ~ Robert Venturi

I want to try to not be the child that had to go through too much too young. I want to be who I am now and not who I was then. ~ Ben Harper

Facts have to be discovered by observation, not by reasoning ~ Bertrand Russell

Never let your fears hold you back. Fears are not easily overcome but when you take the time to be brave it is worth the struggle. ~ Avina Celeste

The author of "The Little Labyrinth" indicates that the Theodotians maintained that their view - that Jesus was completely human, and not divine, but that he was adopted to be the Son of God - had been the doctrine taught by the apostles themselves and by most of the church in Rome until the time of Bishop Victor, at the end of the second century. ~ Bart D. Ehrman

Don't create a plastic image of what it is to be spiritual and try to become it. You won't be capable of it and that will frustrate you. Even if you could do it, if it's not really what you're like, you'll be miserable. ~ Frederick Lenz

It's not that difficult you see,
To be all that you can be;
For the true secret to success,
Is simply this ...
ALWAYS do your best. ~ Danielle Pierre

Do not even think of doing what ought not to be done. ~ Pythagoras

Very Important: During this sensitive postpartum time, you must be very careful not to say anything negative about your wife's appearance. On the other hand, you must not say anything positive about your wife's appearance, because she'll know you're lying. And whatever you do, do NOT give her the impression that you're deliberately avoiding talking about her appearance. This might be a good time to enlist in the navy. ~ Dave Barry

An equality that requires blacks to be twice as good is not equality - it's a double standard. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

Readers like SapphicDerrida, who reeled off statistics and used words like "reify" in their comments, made Ifemelu nervous, eager to be fresh and to impress, so that she began, over time, to feel like a vulture hacking into the carcasses of people's stories for something she could use. Sometimes making fragile links to race. Sometimes not believing herself. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I have seen these persons speak unthinkingly, not realizing that to speak is also to be. Word and gesture are man's thought. We should not speak without reason. ~ Isabel Allende

I like everything in my room has to be in order. If there's a wrinkle in the comforter, I'm stretching it out. But this is only when it comes to my room. Outside of there, I'm not as intense. ~ Jacob Latimore

I chose not to put a wig on. The reason why I chose to come out with the cancer thing is because there's somebody out there who can see that all sickness isn't unto death. That it's something you can't change at that point in time, so you just got to go with it. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of looking at yourself. ~ Sharon Jones

It is inconceivable that the God who gives Himself in His Son to save us, should have created some people ordained to evil and damnation. There can only be one predestination to salvation. In and through Jesus Christ all people are predestined to be saved. Our free choice is ruled out in this regard. God wants free people, except in relation to this last and definitive decision. We are not free to decide and choose to be damned. ~ Jacques Ellul

When the 'Seinfeld' show said it was going to be a show about nothing, everybody said it couldn't - wouldn't work. It did. 'Thor' is about something, about that character finding his destiny, but it's not doing what was expected ... and yet it's doing very well. ~ J. Michael Straczynski

I do not pity you. But I do know what it feels like. To be wanted only for what you are. ~ Samantha Shannon

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~ Marianne Williamson

I opened my eyes to see a silver chain, like his but thinner, longer, with a saint pendant on it. I wasn't the same as his, though; the image was of a man's profile, his eyes turned upward.
'Who is it?' I asked.
'No idea. I found it in a jar my mom has full of them,' he said. 'I was looking for someone like mine, then just someone I recognized. But then I thought maybe it was cooler to have it be a mystery, you know? So it's not just about one thing, but anything. That way, it can be about what you want it to be.'
I turned it over in my hand. Like the image on the front, the back was well-worn, the few words there unreadable.
'Saint Anything.' I looked up at him. 'I love it. Thank you. ~ Sarah Dessen

When Hitler came for the Jews ... I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church - and there was nobody left to be concerned. ~ Martin Niemoller

Faith will falter if the authority of holy scripture is shaken; and if faith falters, love itself decays. For if someone lapses in his faith, he inevitably lapses in his love as well, since he cannot love what he does not believe to be true. ~ Augustine Of Hippo

When the thing is finally sparked, the white man is not there - he's gone. The merchant is not there, the landlord is not there, the one they consider to be the enemy isn't there. So, they knock at his property. This is what makes them knock down the store windows and set fire to things, and things of that sort. ~ Malcolm X

The incarnation means that for whatever reason God chose to let us fall . . . to suffer, to be subject to sorrows and death - he has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. . . . He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He himself has gone through the whole of human experience - from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. . . . He was born in poverty and . . . suffered infinite pain - all for us - and thought it well worth his while.4 Isaiah ~ Timothy J. Keller

If you say there is no such thing as morality in absolute terms, then child abuse is not evil, it just may not happen to be your thing. ~ Rebecca Manley Pippert

Donald Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. ~ Jeb Bush

There is already enough wars in this world. Love was not meant to be one of them, Save the ammunition. ~ Cody Solomon

Not everyone requires, nor seeks, the stimulus of the recurring image. They are content to be without directions. But for those of us who are branded by this particular mark, at least we know where we're going.
We are going, as it were, on a series of seasonal journeys, the climax of which is simply returning home. ~ Laurie Lee

I'm still willing to continue living with the burden of this memory. Even though this is a painful memory, even though this memory makes my heart ache. Sometimes I almost want to ask God to let me forget this memory. But as long as I try to be strong and not run away, doing my best, there will finally be someday ... there will be finally be someday I can overcome this painful memory. I believe I can. I believe I can do it. There is no memory that can be forgotten, there is not that kind of memory. Always in my heart. ~ Natsuki Takaya

People have been on earth in our present form for only about 100,000 years, and in so many ways we're still ironing out our kinks. These turtles we've been traveling with, they outrank us in longevity, having earned three more zeros than we. They've got one hundred million years of success on their resume, and they've learned something about how to survive in the world. And this, I think, is part of it: they have settled upon peaceful career paths, with a stable rhythm. If humans could survive another one hundred million years, I expect we would no longer find ourselves riding bulls. It's not so much that I think animals have rights; it's more that I believe humans have hearts and minds- though I've yet to see consistent, convincing proof of either. Turtles may seem to lack sense, but they don't do senseless things. They're not terribly energetic, yet they do not waste energy… turtles cannot consider what might happen yet nothing turtles do threatens anyone's future. Turtles don't think about the next generation, but they risk and provide all they can to ensure that there will be one. Meanwhile, we profess to love our own offspring above all else, yet above all else it is they from whom we daily steal. We cannot learn to be more like turtles, but from turtles we could learn to be more human. That is the wisdom carried within one hundred million years of survival. What turtles could learn from us, I can't quite imagine. ~ Carl Safina