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

Patience and sorrow strove
Who should express her goodliest. You have seen
Sunshine and rain at once: her smile and tears
Were like a better way.

King Lear (1608)

Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius.

Julius Cæsar (1599)

What do you read, my lord?
Words, words, words.

But, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate?

Othello (1603)

A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel.

Why should the poor be flatter'd?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning.

O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the forefinger of an alderman.

Romeo and Juliet (1597)

By noting of the lady I have mark'd
A thousand blushing apparitions
To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames.
In angel whiteness beat away those blushes.

If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still.
And whatsoever else shall hap to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.

What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye?

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad: and to travel for it too!

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married.

Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.

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

So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue,
* * * * * *
He liv'd from all attainder of suspect.

Richard III (1591)

Had doting Priam checked his son's desire,
Troy had been bright with fame and not with fire.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

Yet, do thy worst, old Time; despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies.

Bravest at the last,
She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal,
Took her own way.

When the moon shone, we did not see the candle;
So doth the greater glory dim the less.

Attribution

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