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 language I have learnt these forty years, My native English, now I must forgo; And now my tongue's use is to me no more Than an unstringed viol or a harp, Or like a cunning instrument cased up Or, being open, put into his hands That knows no touch to tune the harmony.”

KnowsYearsUseHandsLanguageHarmonyInstrumentsTongueNativeTunesFortyCunningHarps
Book:Second Tetralogy In Plain and Simple English: Includes Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V
Create image

“This is some fellow, Who having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect A saucy roughness and constrains the garb Quite from his nature: he can't flatter, he! An honest mind and plain,--he must speak truth! And they will take it so; if not he's plain. These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness Harbor more craft, and far corrupter ends, Than twenty silly, ducking observants, That stretch their duty nicely.”

IfsKnowsMindKindEndsSpeakHonestDutyTwentiesFellowsSillyCraftsHarborsSpeak The TruthKnavesConstrainPlainnessRoughnessBluntness
Book:A Treasury of Thought from Shakespeare: The Choice Sayings of His Principal Characters, Analytically and Alphabetically Arranged
Create image

“I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple; Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys, That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave, and slander, Go antickly, and show outward hideousness, And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst; And this is all.”

IfsKnowsShowsMightLyingSpeakHurtHalfEnemyBoysFashionDangerousRingsDozenBoastSlanderScruplesCogs
Book:Much ado about nothing. Love's labour's lost. Midsummer night's dream. Merchant of Venice. As you like it. Taming of the shrew. All's well that ends well. Twelfth night
Create image

“Yet, for I know thou art religious And hast a thing within thee called conscience, With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies Which I have seen thee careful to observe, Therefore I urge thy oath; for that I know An idiot holds his bauble for a god And keeps the oath which by that god he swears, To that I'll urge him: therefore thou shalt vow By that same god, what god soe'er it be, That thou adorest and hast in reverence, To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up, Or else I will discover naught to thee.”

KnowsArtReligiousBoysConscienceTwentiesCarefulTricksTheeIdiotUrgesReverenceSwearCeremonyVowOathMy Boys
Book:The Dramatic Works, Printed from the Text of Samuel Johnson, George Steevens and Isaac Reed
Create image

“Milk-livered man, That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs; Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning Thine honor from thy suffering; [that not know'st Fools do those villains pity who are punished Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum? France spreads his banners in our noiseless land, With plumed helm thy state begins to threat, Whilst thou, a moral fool, sits still and cries 'Alack, why does he so?']”

KnowsMenDoeStillsStatesDoneEyeSufferingMoralLandCryFoolBearsHonorThreatBlowSpreadPityFranceMilkVillainCowardiceCheeksMischiefBrowsBannerDiscerningHelm
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Let them obey that knows not how to rule.”

KnowsGovernmentObedience
Book:The Plays of William Shakespeare. In Ten Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators; to which are Added Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. With an Appendix..
Create image

“Indeed, sir, he that sleeps feels not the toothache; but a man that were to sleep your sleep, and a hangman to help him to bed, I think he would change places with his officer; for look you, sir, you know not which way you shall go.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWayFeelsLooksHelpingSleepBedOfficersHangmanToothache
Book:The Works of Shakespear: Tragedies: Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello. Glossary
Create image

“Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.”

KnowsWellsHeartArtSadnessSadDearJewelsPrecious Jewels
Book:The Pictorial edition of the works of Shakspere, ed. by C. Knight. [8 vols., including a vol. entitled William Shakspere, by C. Knight].
Create image

“Be advised; Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot That it do singe yourself: we may outrun, By violent swiftness, that which we run at, And lose by over-running. Know you not, The fire that mounts the liquor til run o'er, In seeming to augment it wastes it?”

KnowsMayRunningLosesFireWasteAngerHotViolentHeatFoeLiquorSeemingFurnacesOutrunSwiftness
Book:Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)
Create image

“It is a wise father that knows his own child.”

KnowsChildrenFatherFamilyKnowingWiseDadParentingMy DadMeaningfulFatherhoodVeniceCriminal MindMerchantsFathers DayFather SonBeing A ParentAbout FamilyYour DadBeing A FatherGreat FatherGood FatherMerchant Of VeniceBeing A DadHappy First Fathers DayBest FatherDaughter To FatherFather FigureFathers Day InspirationalFunny Fathers DayHappy Fathers DayFatheringHappy Fathers Day GodCute Fathers DayFather MotherGreat DadFunny FatherFunny Happy Fathers DayHappy Fathers Day MomInspirational FatherFathers Day ImagesHappy Fathers Day GreetingsDad LoveHappy Fathers Day ImagesFathers Day PoemsFathers Day CardMerchant Of Venice FamousFatherhood InspirationalParent Child RelationshipBecoming A FatherBiological FathersFather Child
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?”

KnowsSongImaginationPoorThousandInfiniteFellowsTablesLipsExcellentFallenFancyFlashHungAlasMy ImaginationMockJestGrinningRimsChapsHoratioMerrimentImportant HamletGorgesInfinite Jest
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry. Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting. Petruchio: My remedy is then, to pluck it out. Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies. Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail. Katherine: In his tongue. Petruchio: Whose tongue? Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell. Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”

IfsKnowsDoeLyingFoolAngryTongueGentlemanRemedyTailsFarewellKatePluckWaspsTaming Of The ShrewShrews
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.”

KnowsDreamGrowsSweetFlowerSummerRoseBlowVioletNoddingMidsummerSummer NightsFlower GardenMidsummer Night's DreamMuskMid Summer Nights DreamInspirational FlowerRose FlowerThymeSummer FlowerDreaming At NightWild DreamsWild RosesSweet FlowersWild NightsFlowers Growing
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image