William Shakespeare Quotes

More grief to hide than hate to utter love. Polonius, Hamlet.

~ William Shakespeare

In the corrupted currents of this worldOffence's gilded hand may shove by justice,And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itselfBuys out the law. . . (Claudius, from Hamlet, Act 3, scene 3)

~ William Shakespeare

When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,Then nightly sings the staring owl, To-whit! To-who!—a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doe blow,And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl,To-whit! To-who!—a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

~ William Shakespeare

Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal the mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne.

~ William Shakespeare

Middle Tennessee? Really? My bracket is more busted than Screech's face during puberty.

~ William Shakespeare

His beauty shall in these black lines be seen, and they shall live, and he in them still green.

~ William Shakespeare

Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.

~ William Shakespeare

Within the infant rind of this small flowerPoison hath residence and medicine power.For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;Being tasted, stays all senses with the heart.Two such opposèd kings encamp them still,In man as well as herbs—grace and rude will. And where the worser is predominant,Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.(Inside the little rind of this weak flower, there is both poison and powerful medicine. If you smell it, you feel good all over your body. But if you taste it, you die. There are two opposite elements in everything, in men as well as in herbs—good and evil. When evil is dominant, death soon kills the body like cancer.)

~ William Shakespeare

You see we do, yet see you but our handsAnd this the bleeding business they have done:Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful

~ William Shakespeare

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue and white;Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee;Fairies use flower for their charactery.

~ William Shakespeare

it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance

~ William Shakespeare

And thus I clothe my naked villainyWith odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

~ William Shakespeare

See you now your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth; and thus do we of wisdom and of reach, with windlasses and with assays of bias, by indirections find directions out.

~ William Shakespeare

Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness,/ Wherein the...enemy does much.

~ William Shakespeare

Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.

~ William Shakespeare

A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapors which environ it, makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which, delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit.

~ William Shakespeare

When we our betters see bearing our woes,We scarcely think our miseries our foes.

~ William Shakespeare

Summer's lease hath all too short a date.

~ William Shakespeare

O! how shall summer's honey breath hold out, / Against the wrackful siege of battering days?

~ William Shakespeare

Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none. Beatrice: A dear happiness to women: they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me. -Much Ado About Nothing

~ William Shakespeare

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.

~ William Shakespeare

Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!O any thing, of nothing first create!O heavy lightness, serious vanity,Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!This love feel I, that feel no love in this.

~ William Shakespeare

Out of her favour, where I am in love.

~ William Shakespeare

Oh why rebuke you him that loves you so? / Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

~ William Shakespeare

Make me a willow cabin at your gateAnd call upon my soul within the house;Write loyal cantons of contemned loveAnd sing them loud even in the dead of night;Hallo your name to the reverberate hillsAnd make the babbling gossip of the airCry out Olivia! O, you should not restBetween the elements of air and earthBut you should pity me

~ William Shakespeare

HERMIAGod speed fair Helena! whither away?HELENACall you me fair? that fair again unsay.Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet airMore tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,The rest I'd give to be to you translated.O, teach me how you look, and with what artYou sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.HERMIAI frown upon him, yet he loves me still.HELENAO that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!HERMIAI give him curses, yet he gives me love.HELENAO that my prayers could such affection move!HERMIAThe more I hate, the more he follows me.HELENAThe more I love, the more he hateth me.HERMIAHis folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.HELENANone, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!

~ William Shakespeare

Sometimes we punish ourselves the most.

~ William Shakespeare

Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

~ William Shakespeare

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

~ William Shakespeare

He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear:And you all know, securityIs mortals' chiefest enemy.

~ William Shakespeare

There's some ill planet reigns:I must be patient till the heavens lookWith an aspect more favourable. Good my lords,I am not prone to weeping, as our sexCommonly are; the want of which vain dewPerchance shall dry your pities: but I haveThat honourable grief lodged here which burnsWorse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords,With thoughts so qualified as your charitiesShall best instruct you, measure me; and soThe king's will be perform'd!

~ William Shakespeare

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,That he should weep for her?

~ William Shakespeare

The course of true love never die run smooth

~ William Shakespeare

Nice customs curtsy to great kings.

~ William Shakespeare

The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. Lady Macbeth

~ William Shakespeare

Brevity is the soul of wit.

~ William Shakespeare

Jack shall have Jill.Nought shall go ill.

~ William Shakespeare

Good madonna, give me leave toprove you a fool.

~ William Shakespeare

The sweat of industry would dry and die, But for the end it works to.

~ William Shakespeare

No longer mourn for me when I am deadthan you shall hear the surly sullen bell give warning to the world that I am fled from this vile world with vilest worms to dwell: nay, if you read this line, remember not the hand that writ it, for I love you so, that I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,if thinking on me then should make you woe. O! if, I say, you look upon this verse when I perhaps compounded am with clay, do not so much as my poor name rehearse; but let your love even with my life decay; lest the wise world should look into your moan, and mock you with me after I am gone.

~ William Shakespeare