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

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended...

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.

Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse
And presently all humbled kiss the rod!

O, that estates, degrees, and offices
Were not deriv'd corruptly, and that clear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!

I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.

And of the cannibals that each other eat,
The anthropophagi, ...

Othello (1603)

Faster than his tongue
Did make offence his eye did heal it up.

Sometimes from her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages.

She is your treasure, she must have a husband;
I must dance barefoot on her wedding day
And for your love to her lead apes in hell.

The oars were silver:
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke.

Cheeks neither red nor pale, but mingled so
That blushing red no guilty instance gave,
Nor ashy pale the fear that false hearts have.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

But see, his face is black and full of blood,
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man.

What is my offence?
Where are the evidence that do accuse me?
What lawful quest have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge?

No, they cannot touch me for coining; I am the king himself.

The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine,
But there's but one in all doth hold his place.

Julius Cæsar (1599)

The brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to invent anything that tends to laughter, more than I invent or is invented on me.

You are both decipher'd
For villains mark'd with rape.

As the old hermit of Prague … said,… "That that is, is."

Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.

The Tempest (1610)

There is thy gold; worse poison to men's souls,
Doing more murder in this loathsome world
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.

Romeo and Juliet (1597)

Attribution

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