William Shakespeare Quotes

1564–1616 England

William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

England
Actors
Playwrights
Poets

Also known as: Shakespeare, Shakespeare, William, Shakespearean, Shakspeare

Random William Shakespeare quote

2,353 quotes

Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan
The outward habit by the inward man.

One sorrow never comes but brings an heir,
That may succeed as his inheritor.

And, if you can be merry then, I'll say
A man may weep upon his wedding day.

Henry VIII (1613)

Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,
That long time have been barren.

His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.

I thank God I am not a woman, to be touched with so many giddy offences as He hath generally taxed their whole sex withal.

The world is grown so bad,
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.

Richard III (1591)

For who not needs shall never lack a friend,
And who in want a hollow friend doth try,
Directly seasons him his enemy.

I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

For where is any author in the world
Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye?

Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself!

Macbeth (1605)

Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,
Even to the general all-ending day.

Richard III (1591)

Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?

Richard II (1595)

Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.

Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear!

Sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.

Troilus and Cressida (1602)

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance.

'Tis but a base, ignoble mind
That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

The heart hath treble wrong
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue.

Venus and Adonis (1593)

Attribution

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