William Shakespeare Quotes

There 's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 't is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is 't to leave betimes? Hamlet. V.2 ~ William Shakespeare

The love of wicked men converts to fear, that fear to hate, and hate turns one or both to worthy danger and deserved death. ~ William Shakespeare

I have heard it said
There is an art which in their piedness shares
With great creating nature. ~ William Shakespeare

You ever gentle gods, take my breath from me.
Let not my worser spirit tempt me again
To die before you please. ~ William Shakespeare

Farewell, sweet playfellow. ~ William Shakespeare

Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief;
Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss:
The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
To him that bears the strong offence's cross. ~ William Shakespeare

Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't. - No more of that. - I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely, but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but, ~ William Shakespeare

He that wants money, means, and content is without three good friends. ~ William Shakespeare

Nothing 'gainst Times scythe can make defence. ~ William Shakespeare

As many arrows, loosed several ways, come to one mark ... so many a thousand actions, once afoot, end in one purpose. ~ William Shakespeare

O teach me how I should forget to think (1.1.224) ~ William Shakespeare

The play's the thing." ~~Hamlet ~ William Shakespeare

This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man's art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit. ~ William Shakespeare

Men should be what they seem. ~ William Shakespeare

How every fool can play upon the word! ~ William Shakespeare

So young and so untender?"
"So young, my Lord, and true. ~ William Shakespeare

If music be the food of love, play on. 1 Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, 2 The appetite may sicken and so die. 3 That strain again! It ~ William Shakespeare

This thing of darkness I acknowlege mine. There is nothing more confining than the prison we don't know we are in. ~ William Shakespeare

O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip
Hath virgined it e'er since. ~ William Shakespeare

Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? ~ William Shakespeare

Your "if" is the only peacemaker; much virtue in "if. ~ William Shakespeare

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own read. ~ William Shakespeare

Come, thou tortoise! ~ William Shakespeare

But, love, hate on; for now I know thy mind.
Those that can see, thou lov'st; and I am blind. ~ William Shakespeare

O be some other name. ~ William Shakespeare

Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury,
You may partake of any thing we say:
We speak no treason, man; we say the King
Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen
Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous;
We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue;
And that the Queen's kindred are made gentlefolks. ~ William Shakespeare

Nothing can come of nothing. ~ William Shakespeare

I am a close friend of Robert Loggia. And I just love how, with actors, there's the screen persona. Here is Robert, known for his portrayal of many characters, including gangsters. But in real life, he is elegant and erudite. He sits in the garden reading the sonnets of William Shakespeare. ~ Luanne Rice

Tis ten to one this play can never please
All that are here. Some come to take their ease
And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear,
W' have frighted with our trumpets. ~ William Shakespeare

Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds
Do sorely ruffle; for many miles about
There's scarce a bush. ~ William Shakespeare

The Fears as bad as the Falling.... ~ William Shakespeare

Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child! ~ William Shakespeare

I understand that each one of us works at a different speed, and has a slightly different process. I understand that these writers are painstaking, wanting each sentence-each word-to carry weight ... I know it's not laziness, but respect for the work, and I understand from my own work that haste makes waste. But I also understand that life is short, and that in the end, none of us is prolific. The creative spark dims, and then death puts it out. William Shakespeare, for instance, hasn't produced a new play for 400 years. That, my friends, is a long dry spell. ~ Stephen King

His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth. ~ William Shakespeare

Words, words, words. ~ William Shakespeare

The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine ~ William Shakespeare

To sleep perchance to dream ~ William Shakespeare

For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. ~ William Shakespeare

Like one
Who having into truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie. ~ William Shakespeare

But shall we wear these glories for a day?
Or shall they last, and we rejoice in them? ~ William Shakespeare

Fie, thou dishonest Satan! I call thee by the most modest terms; for I am one of those gentle ones that will use the devil himself with courtesy: sayest thou that house is dark? ~ William Shakespeare

Plenty and peace breed cowards; hardness ever of hardiness is mother. ~ William Shakespeare

Lips, let sour words go by and language end:
What is amiss plague and infection mend!
Graves only be men's works and death their gain!
Sun, hide thy beams! Timon hath done his reign. ~ William Shakespeare

Music can minister to minds diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, raze out the written troubles of the brain, and with its sweet oblivious antidote, cleanse the full bosom of all perilous stuff that weighs upon the heart. ~ William Shakespeare

They say an old man is twice a child ~ William Shakespeare

A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;
And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood. ~ William Shakespeare

How many things by season season'd are, To their right praise and true perfection! ~ William Shakespeare

CLOWN. Fare thee well. Remain thou still in darkness: thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well. ~ William Shakespeare

Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English. ~ William Shakespeare

There is no measure in the occasion that breeds;
therefore the sadness is without limit. ~ William Shakespeare

If by chance I talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father. ~ William Shakespeare

One of the popular songs in Tyler's rebellion was the familiar couplet: "When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?" Shakespeare refers to it in "Hamlet," where the grave-diggers speak as follows: "First Clown. Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentleman but gardners, ditchers and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profession. Second Clown. Was he a gentleman? First Clown. He was the first that ever bore arms. Second Clown. Why, he had none. First Clown. What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture says, Adam digged; could he dig without arms?" (Act 5, ~ William Shakespeare

BENEDICK: I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; ~ William Shakespeare

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved ~ William Shakespeare

I feel it gone, yet know not when it left. ~ William Shakespeare

I like your silence, it the more shows off your wonder. ~ William Shakespeare

Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, till famine cling thee. ~ William Shakespeare

If she and I be pleased, what's that to you? ~ William Shakespeare

And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. ~ William Shakespeare

If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage. ~ William Shakespeare

LXXV
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away. ~ William Shakespeare

What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts ... ~ William Shakespeare

ABRAHAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON [Aside to Gregory]: Is the law of our side, if I say ay?
GREGORY [Aside to Sampson]: No.
SAMPSON: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir. ~ William Shakespeare

Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave. ~ William Shakespeare

I'll find a day to massacre them all
And raze their faction and their family,
The cruel father and his traitorous sons,
To whom I sued for my dear son's life,
And make them know what 'tis to let a queen
Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain. ~ William Shakespeare

Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. ~ William Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus, my lord the Emperor
Sends thee this word, that, if thou love thy sons,
Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,
Or any one of you, chop off your hand
And send it to the King: he for the same
Will send thee hither both thy sons alive,
And that shall be the ransom for their fault. ~ William Shakespeare

Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are not you he?'
'Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night. ~ William Shakespeare

Of all matches never was the like. ~ William Shakespeare

Macbeth:
If we should fail?
Lady Macbeth:
We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail. ~ William Shakespeare

Joan of Arc speaks of her "contemptible estate" as a shepherd's daughter, and afterward, denying her father, calls him "Decrepit miser! base, ignoble wretch!" (Henry VI., Part 1, Act 1, Sc. 2, and Act 5, Sc. 4.) It is hard to believe that Shakespeare would have so frequently allowed his characters to express their contempt for members of the lower orders of society if he had not had some sympathy with their opinions. ~ William Shakespeare

Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap? Ophelia: No, my lord. Hamlet: DId you think I meant country matters? Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord. Hamlet: That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs. Ophelia: What is, my lord? Hamlet: Nothing. ~ William Shakespeare

You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and when he's old, cashier'd:
Whip me such honest knaves. ~ William Shakespeare

Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold! ~ William Shakespeare

I praise God for you, sir: your reasons at dinner have been sharp and sententious; pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, audacious without impudency, learned without opinion, and strange with-out heresy. ~ William Shakespeare

Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love. - William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost ~ Cassandra Clare

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own ~ William Shakespeare

One woe doth tread upon another's heel. So fast they follow. ~ William Shakespeare

Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me,
I'll knock elsewhere, to see if they'll disdain me ~ William Shakespeare

Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive. ~ William Shakespeare

Then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. ~ William Shakespeare

Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. ~ William Shakespeare

She is a woman, therefore to be won. ~ William Shakespeare

Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say 'Father, as it please me. ~ William Shakespeare

Doubtful it stood, as two spent swimmers that do cling together and choke their art. ~ William Shakespeare

Oh, what a world is this when what is comely
Envenoms him that bears it! ~ William Shakespeare

Now put your shields before your hearts and fight / With hearts more proof than shields. Advance, my fellows! ~ William Shakespeare

Laughing Faces Do Not Mean That There Is Absence Of Sorrow! But It Means That They Have The Ability To Deal With It ~ William Shakespeare

O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice? ~ William Shakespeare

She will outstrip all praise and make it halt behind her. ~ William Shakespeare

Action is eloquence. ~ William Shakespeare

No legacy is so rich as honesty (All's Well That Ends Well) ~ William Shakespeare

And the more pity that great folk should have count'nance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even-Christen. ~ William Shakespeare

Prince, thou art
sad. Get thee a wife, get thee a wife. There is no staff more
reverend than one tipped with horn. ~ William Shakespeare

Lords, I protest my soul is full of woe
That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow.
Come, mourn with me for what I do lament,
And put sullen black incontinent.
I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand.
March sadly after. Grace my mournings here
In weeping after this untimely bier. ~ William Shakespeare

That which I would discover
The law of friendship bids me to conceal. ~ William Shakespeare

I am wealthy in my friends. ~ William Shakespeare

No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape; back- wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue? ~ William Shakespeare

Seek happy nights to happy days.W ~ William Shakespeare

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank
Here we will sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness, and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony ~ William Shakespeare