Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
William Shakespeare on Saint Patrick's Day
1564–1616 England
← All quotes by William Shakespeare
37 quotes
The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie.
Troilus and Cressida (1602)
I would be friends with you and have your love.
A good man's fortune may grow out at heels.
King Lear (1608)
When Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.
King John (1598)
Against ill chances men are ever merry;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.
Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
The great man down, you mark his favorite flies,
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies.
How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
While others play the idiots in her eyes!
Troilus and Cressida (1602)
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem:
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart.
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms.
O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle.
Romeo and Juliet (1597)
A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Julius Cæsar (1599)
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please.
Fortune knows,
We scorn her most, when most she offers blows.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to the poor.
King Lear (1608)
Fortune is merry,
And in this mood will give us anything.
Julius Cæsar (1599)
Attribution
Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Shakespeare (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.