William Shakespeare Quotes

3,205 Sourced Quotes

And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And, looking on it with lack-luster eye,
Says very wisely, "It is ten o'clock;
Thus may we see," quoth he, "how the world
wags."

William Shakespeare
What's past and what's to come is strew'd with husks And formless ruin of oblivion.

William Shakespeare
Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

William Shakespeare
To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.

William Shakespeare
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it that do buy it with much care.

William Shakespeare
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania some time of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

William Shakespeare
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.

William Shakespeare
What infinite heart's ease Must kings neglect that private men enjoy! And what have kings that privates have not too, Save ceremony, save general ceremony? And what art thou, thou idol ceremony? What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers? What are thy rents? what are thy comings-in? O ceremony! show me but thy worth.

William Shakespeare
On the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

William Shakespeare
Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me.

William Shakespeare
All lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten and discharging less than the tenth part of one.

William Shakespeare
Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?

William Shakespeare
An old man, broken with the storms of state
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
Give him a little earth for charity.

William Shakespeare
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth But that our soft conditions and our hearts Should well agree with our external parts?

William Shakespeare
Though inclination be as sharp as will,
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

William Shakespeare
Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.

William Shakespeare
A sibyl, that had numbered in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sewed the work;
The worms were hallowed that did breed the silk,
And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful
Conserved of maidens' hearts.

William Shakespeare
He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men.

William Shakespeare
The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light.

William Shakespeare
Ophelia: 'Tis brief, my lord.
Hamlet: As woman's love.

William Shakespeare
Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd.

William Shakespeare
We are not the first
Who with best meaning have incurred the worst

William Shakespeare
Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't.

William Shakespeare
That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in, and the best of me is diligence.

William Shakespeare
That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?

William Shakespeare
How sour sweet music is When time is broke and no proportion kept! So is it in the music of men's lives.

William Shakespeare
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
That fools should be so deep-contemplative,
And I did laugh sans intermission
An hour by his dial.

William Shakespeare
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

William Shakespeare
Duke: And what's her history?
Viola: A blank, my lord. She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed On Her Damask Cheek: she pin'd in thought, And with a green and yellow melancholy,
She sat like Patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief.

William Shakespeare
You have witchcraft in your lips, there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French council; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs.

William Shakespeare