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Quotes from the plays of
William Shakespeare

This is dedicated to the Quotes of the great bard,  with links to pages with the most  famous Sonnets by Shakespeare, the Biography of Shakespeare & a list of all Plays by Shakespeare.

Quotes from the plays of William Shakespeare

 The following quotes have been selected from the most famous plays of William Shakepeare. Familiar, everyday quotes will be found from plays such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello and a Midsummer Nights Dream. Many of these famous quotes by William Shakespeare have crept into the English language and they are often used on a daily basis although most people do not appreciate that they originate from the great works of William Shakepeare. Take a look at the glance and you might find some suprises in the quotes we have selected!

Famous Quotes
by
William Shakespeare

Hamlet

"To be, or not to be: that is the question"(Act III, Scene I).

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be" (Act I, Scene III).

"This above all: to thine own self be true". - (Act I, Scene III).

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.". - (Act II, Scene II). 

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks". - (Act III, Scene II). 

"In my mind's eye". - (Act I, Scene II).

"The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king". - (Act II, Scene II). 

As You Like It

"All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" (Act II, Scene VII). 

"Can one desire too much of a good thing?". - (Act IV, Scene I). 

"For ever and a day". - (Act IV, Scene I).

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool". - (Act V, Scene I).


King Richard III

"Now is the winter of our discontent". - (Act I, Scene I). 

"A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!". - (Act V, Scene IV). 

"So wise so young, they say, do never live long". - (Act III, Scene I). 

"Off with his head!" - (Act III, Scene IV). 

Romeo and Juliet

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?". - (Act II, Scene II).

"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" . - (Act II, Scene II).

"Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." - (Act II, Scene II).

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". - (Act II, Scene II).


The Merchant of Venice

"But love is blind, and lovers cannot see".

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - (Act III, Scene I).

"I like not fair terms and a villain's mind". - (Act I, Scene III).


The Merry Wives of Windsor

"Why, then the world 's mine oyster" - (Act II, Scene II).

"This is the short and the long of it". - (Act II, Scene II).

"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is". - (Act III, Scene II).

"As good luck would have it". - (Act III, Scene V).


Measure for Measure

"The miserable have no other medicine but only hope". - (Act III, Scene I).


King Henry IV, Part I 

"He will give the devil his due". - (Act I, Scene II). 

"The better part of valour is discretion". - (Act V, Scene IV). 


King Henry IV, Part II

"He hath eaten me out of house and home". - (Act II, Scene I).

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown". - (Act III, Scene I).

"A man can die but once". - (Act III, Scene II). 


King Henry IV, Part III

"The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on". - (Act II, Scene II).


King Henry the Sixth, Part I

"Delays have dangerous ends". - (Act III, Scene II). 

"Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed". - (Act V, Scene II).


King Henry the Sixth, Part II

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". - (Act IV, Scene II).

"Small things make base men proud". - (Act IV, Scene I).


King Henry the Sixth, Part III

"Having nothing, nothing can he lose".- (Act III, Scene III).


Taming of the Shrew

"I 'll not budge an inch". - (Induction, Scene I).


Timon of Athens

"We have seen better days". - (Act IV, Scene II).


Julius Caesar

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him". - (Act III, Scene II).

"But, for my own part, it was Greek to me". - (Act I, Scene II).

"Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war". - (Act III, Scene I).

"Et tu, Brute!" - (Act III, Scene I).

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more". - (Act III, Scene II).

"Beware the Ides of March". - (Act I, Scene II).

"This was the noblest Roman of them all". - (Act V, Scene V).


Macbeth

"There 's daggers in men's smiles". - (Act II, Scene III).

"What 's done is done".- (Act III, Scene II).

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair". - (Act I, Scene I).

"I bear a charmed life". - (Act V, Scene VIII). 

"Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." - (Act I, Scene V).

"When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle 's lost and won". - (Act I, Scene I).

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" - (Act II, Scene I).


King Lear

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" - (Act I, Scene IV). 


Othello

"‘T’is neither here nor there." - (Act IV, Scene III).

"I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at". - (Act I, Scene I). 


Antony and Cleopatra

"My salad days, when I was green in judgment." - (Act I, Scene V).


Cymbeline

"The game is up." - (Act III, Scene III).

"I have not slept one wink.". - (Act III, Scene III).


Twelfth Night

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them". - (Act II, Scene V).


A Midsummer Night's Dream

"The course of true love never did run smooth". - (Act I, Scene I).


The Winter's Tale

"You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely". - (Act I, Scene I).


Taming of the Shrew

"Out of the jaws of death". - (Act III, Scene IV).

"Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges". - (Act V, Scene I).


Troilus and Cressida

"The common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance". - (Act II, Scene III).

 

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Quotes from
William Shakespeare

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