Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenLoveIfsEyeHeartLove YouTheeMayWorldMemorableDeathShouldRomeo And Juliet PlayFairsKnowsGivingHeavenSweetNightLife

Famous William Shakespeare Quotes

“The why is plain as way to parish church: He that a fool doth very wisely hit Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not, The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool.”

IfsMenWaySeemsChurchWiseFoolSmartStupidityRingsFollyBobGlancesParishVery Wise
Book:As you like it. Taming of the shrew. All's well that ends well. Twelfth night
Create image

“To be in love- where scorn is bought with groans, Coy looks with heart-sore sighs, one fading moment's mirth With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights; If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain; If lost, why then a grievous labour won; However, but a folly bought with wit, Or else a wit by folly vanquished.”

IfsLooksHeartMomentsNightLostGainsTwentiesStupidityWitFollyLabourWearySighScornTediousFadingMirth
Book:The Pictorial edition of the works of Shakspere, ed. by C. Knight. [8 vols., including a vol. entitled William Shakspere, by C. Knight]. [8 vols. The vol. containing the biogr. is of the 3rd ed.].
Create image

“Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie? I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth; the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct. All these you may avoid but the Lie Direct; and you may avoid that too, with an If. . . . Your If is the only peace-maker; much virtue in If.”

IfsFirstsMayLyingOrderNamesPeaceVirtueCircumstancesDegreesDirectThirdsMakersFourthModestyModestFifthCourteousValiantQuipReproofRetorts
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“ROMEO to BALTHASAR But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry In what I further shall intend to do, By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs: The time and my intents are savage-wild, More fierce and more inexorable far Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.”

IfsTimeHeavenSeaTearsReturnEmptyHungerHungryTheeEmptinessJealousFierceSavagesTigersLimbsJointsRoaringInexorable
Book:The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works
Create image

“But whate'er you are That in this desert inaccessible, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time; If you have ever looked on better days, If ever been where bells knoll'd to church, If ever sat at any good man's feast, If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear, And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied, Let gentleness my strong enforcement be. . . .”

IfsKnowsMenTimeStrongHoursLosesChurchTearsPityDesertSatGood ManNeglectMelancholyShadeBellsEnforcementGentlenessEyelidsInaccessibleBetter Days
Book:The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Adapted for Family Reading
Create image

“If thou art rich, thou art poor; for, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows, thou bearest thy heavy riches but a journey, and death unloads thee.”

IfsArtDeathPoorRichJourneyHeavyRichesAssTheeBowsConsumerismOverconsumptionMeasure For Measure
Book:The Complete Works of W. Shakspere: Illustrated with Many Valuable Literary Notes from Johnson, Steevens, Malone, Drake, Chalmers, Coleridge, Lamb, Schlegel, Hazlitt, Ch. Knight, and Other Distinguished Commentators with Large Introductory Notices Prefixed to Each Play ...
Create image

“Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you-trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.”

IfsGivingMayUseHandsPassionSpeakLinesActingSawsToo MuchPlayerAirPrayingSpeechMouthsTownsTongueTheatreAcquireSpokesI PrayBegetsTempestTemperanceWhirlwindStage ActorsTheatre Acting
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Go, write it in a martial hand; be curst and brief; it is no matter how witty, so it be eloquent and fun of invention: taunt him with the licence of ink: if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy shee.”

IfsWritingMatterHandsLyingFunWittyInventionInkEloquentTauntingThrice
Book:The Plays of William Shakespeare in Ten Volumes: With Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators
Create image

“If you did wed my sister for her wealth, Then for her wealth's sake use her with more kindness; Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth; Muffle your false love with some show of blindness; Let not my sister read it in your eye; Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator; Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty; Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger; Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted; Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint; Be secret-false.”

IfsLooksHeartUseShowsEyeSpeakWealthSinSecretTeachKindnessVirtueSweetBearsHolyFairsShameSakeSaintVicesTongueMy SisterElsewhereFairnessBlindnessCarriagesOratorsTaintedApparelDisloyaltyStealthHarbingerFalse Love
Book:The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Dramatic and Poetic
Create image

“Titus Andronicus, my lord the Emperor Sends thee this word, that, if thou love thy sons, Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus, Or any one of you, chop off your hand And send it to the King: he for the same Will send thee hither both thy sons alive, And that shall be the ransom for their fault.”

IfsHandsLordAliveSonKingsFaultsTheeThyselfEmperorRansomKings And Queens
Book:Henry V. King Henry VI, part 1. King Henry VI, part 2. King Henry VI, part 3. King Richard III. King Henry VIII. Troilus and Cressida. Timon of Athens. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra. Cymbeline. Titus Andronicus. Pericles. King Lear. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello
Create image

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love... 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”

IfsLoveArtFatherNamesEnemySweetRoseRefuseDenySmellJulietSweet LoveActs Of LoveRomeo And Juliet PlayRomeo JulietRomeo And Juliet JulietRomeo And Juliet RomeoRomeo And Juliet LoveRomeo And Juliet ImportantRomeo And Juliet Key
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image