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William Shakespeare on Sadness

1564–1616 England

← All quotes by William Shakespeare

51 quotes

My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow.

Macbeth (1605)

The big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase.

Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Macbeth (1605)

If sorrow can admit society,
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine.

Richard III (1591)

Joy, being altogether wanting,
It doth remember me the more of sorrow.

Richard II (1595)

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.

What I should say
My tears gainsay; for every word I speak,
Ye see, I drink the water of mine eyes.

I cannot weep; for all my body's moisture
Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart.

'Tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.

Henry VIII (1613)

I so lively acted with my tears
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly.

There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamour moisten'd.

King Lear (1608)

One, whose subdu'd eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum.

Othello (1603)

Here I and sorrows sit:
Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.

King John (1598)

Yet be sad, good brothers,
* * * * *
Sorrow so royally in you appears,
That I will deeply put the fashion on.

Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able to fill it with my tears: if the wind were down, I could drive the boat with my sighs.

The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl,
Advantaging their loan with interest
Of ten times double gain of happiness.

Richard III (1591)

If the boy have not a woman's gift
To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift.

Did he break into tears?
In great measure.
A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces truer than those that are so washed.

O melancholy!
Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find
The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare
Might easiliest harbour in?

Cymbeline (1611)

And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Shakespeare (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.