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William Shakespeare on Memorial Day

1564–1616 England

← All quotes by William Shakespeare

69 quotes

The sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws.

The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down.

Othello (1603)

God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is knoll'd.

Macbeth (1605)

Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not be forever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.

Thou thought'st to help me; and such thanks I give
As one near death to those that wish him live.

Bear from hence his body:
And mourn you for him: let him be regarded
As the most noble corse that ever herald
Did follow to his urn.

There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have.

Henry VIII (1613)

His sword, Death’s stamp,
Where it did mark, it took.

Coriolanus (1608)

Taking the measure of an unmade grave.

Romeo and Juliet (1597)

He in peace is wounded, not in war.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

A gallant curtal-axe upon my thigh.

As You Like It (1603)

Arm'd at point exactly, cap-à-pie.

Out, sword, and to a sore purpose!

Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins
To give each naked curtle-axe a stain,
That our French gallants shall today draw out,
And sheathe for lack of sport.

Died with their swords in hand.

Cymbeline (1611)

My sword hacked like a handsaw.

We measured swords and parted.

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.

As You Like It (1599)

O, thy vile lady!
She has robbed me of my sword.

With his own sword,
Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta’en
His head from him.

Attribution

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