Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenLoveIfsEyeHeartLove YouTheeMayWorldMemorableDeathShouldRomeo And Juliet PlayFairsKnowsGivingHeavenSweetNightLife

Famous William Shakespeare Quotes

“O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. . . . She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate stone On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomi Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep.”

MenLittlesLyingTeamShapesStonesBiggerNosesQueensFairyFaerieJulietRomeo And Juliet PlayMidwifeRomeo JulietRomeo And Juliet JulietRomeo And Juliet RomeoRomeo And Juliet LoveRomeo And Juliet Important
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“HAMLET [...] we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. CLAUDIUS Alas, alas. HAMLET A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. CLAUDIUS What dost thou mean by this? HAMLET Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.”

MenMayMeanTwoEndsShowsProgressKingsCreaturesTablesFishesFatsGutsFedsDishesWormsAlasBeggarVariablesMaggots
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“I'll not meddle with it; it is a dangerous thing; it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear, but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbor's wife, but it detects him. 'Tis a blushing, shame -faced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom ; it fills one full of obstacles; it made me once restore a purse of gold that by chance I found; it beggars any man that keeps it; it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well endeavors to trust to himself and live without it.”

MenWellsMeanMadeSpiritLyingFoundChanceCitiesWifeDangerousGoldTownsObstaclesNeighborEvery ManStealingChecksCowardEndeavorSwearBosomsBeggarPursesDangerous ThingsLive WellBlushingMutiny
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Don Pedro - (...)'In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.' Benedick - The savage bull may, but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's horns and set them in my forehead, and let me be vildly painted; and in such great letters as they writes, 'Here is good horse for hire', let them signify under my sign, 'Here you may see Benedick the married man.”

IfsMenWritingMayBearsMarriedLettersLet MeHorseSensibleSavagesBullsHornsForeheadsPluckYokeMarried ManGood HorseBenedick
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“Let me twine Mine arms about that body, where against My grained ash an hundred times hath broke And scarr'd the moon with splinters: here I clip The anvil of my sword, and do contest As hotly and as nobly with thy love As ever in ambitious strength I did Contend against thy valour. Know thou first, I loved the maid I married; never man Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here, Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart Than when I first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold.”

KnowsMenFirstsHeartBodySawsMinesArmsMoonMarriedHundredLet MeBreathsNobleTheeBrokeAmbitiousAshesContestsSighMistressThresholdMaidsClipSplintersAnvilsValour
Book:The plays of William Shakespeare ...: With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators
Create image

“Tam: What begg’st thou then? fond woman, let me go. Lav: ’Tis present death I beg; and one thing more That womanhood denies my tongue to tell. O! keep me from their worse than killing lust, And tumble me into some loathsome pit, Where never man’s eye may behold my body: Do this, and be a charitable murderer. Tam: So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee: No, let them satisfy their lust on thee. Dem: Away! for thou hast stay’d us here too long. Lav: No grace! no womanhood! Ah, beastly creature, The blot and enemy to our general name. Confusion fall—”

MenShouldMayLongBodyEyeFallNamesEnemyGraceOne ThingSonSweetCreaturesLet MeKillingDenyTongueLustConfusionTheeShould IWomanhoodMurdererPitsCharitableFeesLet Me GoBeastly
Book:The Plays of Shakespeare: The Text Regulated by the Old Copies, and by the Recently Discovered Folio of 1632, Containing Early Manuscript Emendations
Create image

“Every subject's duty is the King's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore, should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience; and dying so, death is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained; and in him that escapes, it were no sin to think that, making God so free an offer, He let him outlive the day to see His greatness and to teach others how they should prepare.”

ThinkingMenShouldWarSoulLostSinTeachSubjectsDyingGreatnessDutyKingsOffersBedConscienceAdvantageSickSoldierPreparationSick Man
Book:The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Create image

“Either to die the death or to abjure For ever the society of men. Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires; Know of your youth, examine well your blood, Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice, You can endure the livery of a nun, For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd, To live a barren sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon. Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood, To undergo such maiden pilgrimage; But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, Than that which withering on the virgin thorn Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.”

IfsKnowsMenWellsDesireDiesChoicesFatherGrowsBloodYouthMastersColdMoonFairsBlessedRoseEndureYieldVirginsBarrenHymnsNunPilgrimageMaidensChantingShadyBlessednessWitheringThrice
Book:The works of William Shakespeare
Create image

“Time's the king of men; he's both their parent, and he is their grave, and gives them what he will, not what they crave.”

MenGivingTimeParentKingsGravesCrave
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

“There is a time in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

MenOpportunityChangeTakenFortuneAffairTidesFloodVoyagesJuliusFloodingNew OpportunitySailing And The SeaBoats And SailingLife OpportunitySea LifeOne Tree Hill VoiceoverSailors And The SeaTree HillOpportunismCurrent AffairsOne Tree Hill OpeningShort One Tree HillOne Tree Hill LifeOne Tree Hill LoveOne Tree Hill MemorableStormy SeasOne Tree Hill DeathOne Tree Hill InspirationalSea VoyageFlood Likes
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“We cannot fight for love, as men may do; we shou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo”

MenMayMadeFightingLove YouFighting For Love
Book:The works of Shakespear [ed. by H. Blair], in which the beauties observed by Pope, Warburton and Dodd are pointed out, together with the author's life; a glossary [&c.].
Create image

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”

IfsMenMindLooksStarsHoursLove IsTakenWeekLove YouFoolBearsLet MeMarkErrorsLipsEdgesWanderFixedHeightRemoveCheeksCompassDoomSonnetLove PoemsBarkTempestImpedimentsBendingAlterationsRosyWedding CeremonyWedding Poetry
Author:William Shakespeare
Create image

“What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit!”

MenLove YouWitPretty Things
Book:The plays of William Shakspeare: In fifteen volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators. To which are added, notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The fourth edition. Revised and augmented (with a glossarial index) by the editor of Dodsley's collection of old plays
Create image