Quotes by Shakespeare, William




Born ca. 1564 and died ca. 1616 during the Renaissance period (1450-1599). One of the greatest writers of all time, Shakespeare, the peerless poet of the Sonnets and the creator of such dramatic masterpieces as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear, is a playwright of paradigmatic originality. In his discussion of the Western literary canon, critic Harold Bloom declared: "Shakespeare and Dante are the center of the Canon because they excel all other Western writer in cognitive acuity, linguistic energy, and power of invention." However, one could go a step further and suggest that Shakespeare defines the Western canon because he transcends it. If Shakespeare, as Ben Jonson declared, "was not of an age, but for all time," the great dramatist, one could argue, spoke to the ultimate concerns of humankind, regardless of period or cultural tradition..

"Present fears are less than horrible imaginings."

Shakespeare, William on worry    Share


"A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age."

Shakespeare, William on youth    Share

"Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, that are written down old with all the characters of age?"

Shakespeare, William on youth    Share

"Be great in act, as you have been in thought."

Shakespeare, William on action    Share

"If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well. It were done quickly."

Shakespeare, William on action    Share

"Suit the action to the world, the world to the action, with this special observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature."

Shakespeare, William on action    Share

"Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing."

Shakespeare, William on action    Share

"Action is eloquence."

Shakespeare, William on action
4 fans of this quote    Share

"I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the anciently, stealing, fighting."

Shakespeare, William on adolescence    Share

"O curse of marriage that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites!"

Shakespeare, William on adultery    Share

"Children wish fathers looked but with their eyes; fathers that children with their judgment looked; and either may be wrong."

Shakespeare, William on children    Share

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."

Shakespeare, William on children    Share

"Though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve."

Shakespeare, William on comedy and comedians    Share

"And I did laugh sans intermission an hour by his dial. O noble fool, a worthy fool -- motley's the only wear."

Shakespeare, William on comedy and comedians    Share

"Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me."

Shakespeare, William on company    Share

"Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill."

Shakespeare, William on passion    Share

"Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends."

Shakespeare, William on competition    Share

"When you fear a foe, fear crushes your strength; and this weakness gives strength to your opponents."

Shakespeare, William on competition    Share

"Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, brags of his substance: they are but beggars who can count their worth."

Shakespeare, William on conceit    Share

"Conceit in weakest bodies works the strongest."

Shakespeare, William on conceit
3 fans of this quote    Share

"Conscience does make cowards of us all."

Shakespeare, William on science    Share

"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns me for a villain."

Shakespeare, William on science    Share

"He that is well paid is well satisfied."

Shakespeare, William on contentment    Share

"My crown is in my heart, not on my head, Nor decked with diamonds and Indian stones, Nor to be seen: My crown is called content: A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy."

Shakespeare, William on contentment
5 fans of this quote    Share

"Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affection, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood."

Shakespeare, William on conversation
4 fans of this quote    Share

"'Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers."

Shakespeare, William on cooking    Share

"Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts."

Shakespeare, William on cooperation    Share

"When rich villains have need of poor ones, poor ones may make what price they will."

Shakespeare, William on corruption    Share

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another."

Shakespeare, William on cosmetics    Share

"Why so large a cost, having so short a lease, does thou upon your fading mansion spend?"

Shakespeare, William on cost    Share

"But screw your courage to the sticking-place and we'll not fail."

Shakespeare, William on courage    Share

"That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion."

Shakespeare, William on courage    Share

"I dare to do all that may become a man: who dares do more is none."

Shakespeare, William on courage    Share

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

Shakespeare, William on war
9 fans of this quote    Share

"Cowards die a thousand deaths. The valiant taste of death but once."

Shakespeare, William on war
6 fans of this quote    Share

"I have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I'll weep."

Shakespeare, William on cries and crying    Share

"He that is robbed, not wanting what is stolen, let him not know't, and he's not robbed at all"

Shakespeare, William on crime and criminals    Share

"The time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right!"

Shakespeare, William on crisis    Share

"Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety."

Shakespeare, William on anger    Share

"Send danger from the east unto the west, so honor cross it from the north to south."

Shakespeare, William on anger    Share

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Shakespeare, William - 78px-First_Folio.jpeg - Engraved portrait of William Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout, from the First Folio of shakespeare's plays   Photos >>