Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenLoveIfsEyeHeartLove YouTheeMayWorldMemorableDeathShouldRomeo And Juliet PlayFairsKnowsGivingHeavenSweetNightLife

Famous William Shakespeare Quotes

“Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye, Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy; Anon permit the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his celestial face, And from the forlorn world his visage hide, Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace: Even so my sun one early morn did shine, With all triumphant splendour on my brow; But out, alack, he was but one hour mine, The region cloud hath mask’d him from me now. Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth; Suns of the world may stain when heaven’s sun staineth”

HeavenMorningGloryAngelGoldenGloriousCelestialSonnet 33
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here, Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog And little mouse, every unworthy thing, Live here in heaven and may look on her, But Romeo may not. More validity, More honorable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand And steal immortal blessing from her lips, Who even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin. But Romeo may not. He is banishèd. Flies may do this, but I from this must fly. They are free men, but I am banishèd. And sayst thou yet that exile is not death? Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, But “banishèd” to kill me?—“Banishèd”! O Friar, the damnèd use that word in hell. Howling attends it. How hast thou the heart, Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, A sin-absolver, and my friend professed, To mangle me with that word “banishèd”?”

LovePainBeautifulDeathHeavenSadTortureShakespeareRomeo And JulietWilliam Shakespear
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with his eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity and a heaven to throne in.”

HeavenBraveryKingdomThroneAlexander
Book:Coriolanus
Create image

“Merciful heaven, Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man, Dressed in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured His glassy essence--like an angry ape Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens, would all themselves laugh mortal.”

MenLittlesPlayHeavenLaughingProudAuthorityAngelEssenceAngryTricksIgnorantMortalsFantasticSplitsAssuredApesMercifulOaksBoltsProud ManSpleenMyrtle
Book:Measure for Measure
Create image

“The benediction of these covering heavens Fall on their heads like dew, for they are worthy To inlay heaven with stars.”

FallHeavenStarsWorthyCoveringDewBenediction
Book:The plays of William Shakespeare: in twenty-one volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators, to which are added notes
Create image

“Come, swear it, damn thyself, lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves should fear to seize thee; therefore be double-damned, swear,--thou art honest.”

ShouldArtHeavenHonestDevilTheeDamnSwearThyself
Book:The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: With a Life of the Poet, and Notes, Original and Selected; Together with a Copious Glossary
Create image

“The bay-trees in our country are all withered, And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven. The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth, And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change. Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap; The one in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other to enjoy by rage and war. These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.”

MenLooksWarCountryEarthFallHeavenStarsEnjoyLosesRichTreeKingsMoonRageOur CountryProphetLeapFearfulPaleBloodyRich ManFrightWitheredMeteorsRuffian
Book:The Oxford Shakespeare: Richard II
Create image

“What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven?”

ShouldEarthHumanityHeavenFellowsSkepticismCrawlingHamlet And OpheliaOpheliaHamlet OpheliaMortality In HamletMorality In HamletHamlet Love
Book:The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed; with Glossarial Notes, His Life, and a Critique on His Genius & Writings
Create image

“When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow? If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad, Threatening the welkin with his big-swoln face? And wilt thou have a reason for this coil? I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow! She is the weeping welkin, I the earth: Then must my sea be moved with her sighs; Then must my earth with her continual tears Become a deluge, overflow'd and drown'd: For why my bowels cannot hide her woes, But like a drunkard must I vomit them. Then give me leave, for losers will have leave To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.”

IfsGivingReasonBigsEarthFacesHeavenSeaTearsWindGive MeMadMovedBlowTongueRageBitterEaseLoserThreateningWoeSighWeepingOverflowDrunkardsBowelsDeluge
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“When he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.”

WorldLoveLittlesFacesDeathNightDiesHeavenStarsGriefPaySunCuttingFineWorshipSympathyFuneralDeath Of A Loved OneJulietFamous LoveCondolencesRomeo And Juliet PlayDarkness To LightRomeo JulietRomeo And Juliet JulietMy SympathyLoss Of A Loved OneRomeo And Juliet RomeoRomeo And Juliet LoveNo SympathyWords Of SympathyFunerals And DeathDeath GriefGrief And DeathThose GrievingDeath ComfortCondolences And SympathyGrieving A DeathLoss Loved One InspirationalDeath And GrievingGrief ComfortCondolence MessageBeautiful DeathSympathy CardRomeo And Juliet ImportantInspirational CondolencesInspirational SympathyDeath GrievingFuneral CondolencesFuneral MemorialFuneral SympathyLoved One DyingRomantic Romeo And JulietDeath AnniversaryDeath MemorialSomeone Who Is DyingComfort LossDeath StarFamous CondolenceSympathy And LoveShort DeathHealing From LossCondolence CardFuneral CardBeautiful Light
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven; and as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name; such tricks hath strong imagination.”

GivingBodyEyeEarthFormScienceTurnsNamesStrongHeavenImaginationPoetFineShapesTricksLocalsPensRollingGlancesFrenzyAiryMidsummerMidsummer Night's DreamMid Summer Nights Dream
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“it is my lady! *sighs* o, it is my love! o, that she knew she were! she speaks, yet she sais nothing. what of that? her eye discourses; i will answer it. i am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks; two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return.”

TwoEyeSpeakHeavenStarsAnswersReturnSpheresHer EyesDiscourseSighJulietRomeo And Juliet JulietRomeo And Juliet RomeoRomeo And Juliet Love
Book:The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: From the text of Johnson, Steevens, and Reed: With the preface of Dr. Johnson, and a copious glossary. Complete in 1 volume
Create image

“Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain, Have put on black and loving mourners be, Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain. And truly not the morning sun of heaven Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east, Nor that full star that ushers in the even, Doth half that glory to the sober west, As those two mourning eyes become thy face: O! let it then as well beseem thy heart To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace, And suit thy pity like in every part. Then will I swear beauty herself is black, And all they foul that thy complexion lack”

WellsHeartTwoEyePainFacesHeavenStarsBlackHalfMorningSunKnowingGraceGloryWestEastPitySuitsTheeMourningCheeksSwearSoberGreyTormentMournFoulDisdainRuthComplexionMorning Sun
Book:Arden Shakespeare Complete Works
Create image

“The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice.”

GivingHeartShowsForceHeavenJusticeQualityKingsRainMercySeasonsGentleAweAttributesDreadCrownsStrainMajestyVeniceMerchantsMonarchsMerchant Of VeniceMercy Of GodJustice And MercyShylockMerchant Of Venice FamousMercy And ForgivenessGentle Rain
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Where is Polonius? HAMLET In heaven. Send hither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But if indeed you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.”

IfsHeavenMonthsNosesStairsMessengersSinisterPolonius
Book:Making Sense of Hamlet! a Students Guide to Shakespeare's Play (Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelling)
Create image

“I hold my peace, sir? no; No, I will speak as liberal as the north; Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”

MenSpeakHeavenCryDevilShame
Book:The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustr. of various commentators; to which are added An essay on the chronological order of his plays; an essay relative to Shakspeare and Jonson; a dissertation on the three parts of King Henry vi; an historical account of the English stage; and notes. By E. Malone. 10 vols. [in 11 pt.].
Create image