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..

"The apparel oft proclaims the man."

Shakespeare, William on dress    Share


"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, but not expressed in fancy; rich not gaudy; for the apparel oft proclaims the man."

Shakespeare, William on dress
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"Nothing can come of nothing."

Shakespeare, William on effort
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"Many can brook the weather that love not the wind."

Shakespeare, William on endurance    Share

"For 'Tis the sport to have the engineer hoisted with his own petard."

Shakespeare, William on engineering    Share

"Oh, what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes."

Shakespeare, William on envy
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"There's small choice in rotten apples."

Shakespeare, William on evil
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"Then to Silvia let us sing that Silvia is excelling. She excels each mortal thing upon the dull earth dwelling."

Shakespeare, William on excellence    Share

"When workmen strive to do better than well, they do confound their skill in covetousness."

Shakespeare, William on excellence    Share

"And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse."

Shakespeare, William on excuses
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"Good counselors lack no clients."

Shakespeare, William on experts
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"There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things."

Shakespeare, William on nations    Share

"The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes."

Shakespeare, William on faces
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"Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn."

Shakespeare, William on faces    Share

"God had given you one face, and you make yourself another. [Hamlet]"

Shakespeare, William on faces
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"Glory is like a circle in the water, which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught."

Shakespeare, William on fame    Share

"Celebrity is never more admired than by the negligent."

Shakespeare, William on fame
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"Death makes no conquest of this conqueror: For now he lives in fame, though not in life."

Shakespeare, William on fame    Share

"Time hath a wallet at his back, wherein he puts. Alms for oblivion, a great-sized monster of ingratitudes."

Shakespeare, William on fame    Share

"Sweets grown common lose their dear delight."

Shakespeare, William on familiarity
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"The voice of parents is the voice of gods, for to their children they are heaven's lieutenants."

Shakespeare, William on family
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"Come, let's have one other gaudy night. Call to me. All my sad captains. Fill our bowls once more. Let's mock the midnight bell."

Shakespeare, William on farewells
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"Fashion wears out more clothes than the man."

Shakespeare, William on fashion
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"Men at sometime are the masters of their fate."

Shakespeare, William on fate
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"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves; we are underlings."

Shakespeare, William on fate
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"There is tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries; on such a full sea we are now afloat; and we must take the current the clouds folding and unfolding beyond the horizon. when it serves, or lose our ventures."

Shakespeare, William on fate    Share

"It is a wise father that knows his own child."

Shakespeare, William on fathers
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"They say men are molded out of faults, and for the most, become much more the better; for being a little bad. [Measure For Measure]"

Shakespeare, William on faults
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"Men's faults to themselves seldom appear."

Shakespeare, William on faults
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"Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind."

Shakespeare, William on faults
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"O how wretched is that poor man that hangs on princes favors! 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, and when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, never to hope again."

Shakespeare, William on favors    Share

"Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear."

Shakespeare, William on fear
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"The best safety lies in fear."

Shakespeare, William on fear
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"Fearless minds climb soonest into crowns."

Shakespeare, William on fear    Share

"In time we hate that which we often fear."

Shakespeare, William on fear
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"Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed."

Shakespeare, William on fear    Share

"I will praise any man that will praise me."

Shakespeare, William on flattery
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"He that loves to be flattered is worthy of the flatterer."

Shakespeare, William on flattery
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"Lord, what fools these mortals be."

Shakespeare, William on fools and foolishness
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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 >>