2,311 Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare
4/23/1564 - 4/23/1616
Also Known As:
Shakespeare
The Bard
Shaxper
Professions:
Information:
About William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Blood hath been shed ere now, i' th' olden time,
Ere humane stature purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
Too terrible for the ear. The time has been
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end. But now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is.
Murder
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Macbeth (Macbeth at III, iv)
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Erroneous vassals! the great King of Kings
Hath in the table of his law commanded
That thou shalt do no murder. Will you then
Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man's?
Murder
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (Clarence at I, iv)
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What work's, my countrymen, in hand? Where go you
With bats and clubs? The matter? Speak, I pray you.
Work
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Coriolanus (Menenius at I, i)
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I have had my labor for my travail; ill-thought-on of her, and
ill-thought-on of you; gone between and between, but small thanks
for my labor.
Work
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The History of Troilus and Cressida (Pandarus at I, i)
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Another lean unwashed artificer
Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death.
Work
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The Life and Death of King John (Hubert at IV, ii)
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Why, universal plodding poisons up
The nimble spirits in the arteries,
As motion and long-during action tires
The sinewy vigor of the traveller.
Work
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Love's Labor's Lost (Berowne at IV, iii)
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And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That sucked the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason
Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh,
That unmatched form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy.
Bells
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Ophelia at III, i)
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Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear
That thou are crowned, not that I am dead.
Bells
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (King Henry at IV, v)
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I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart; but
the saying is true, 'The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.'
Sound
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (Boy at IV, v)
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What's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!
Sound
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth at II, iii)
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I'll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand
As is a man were author of himself
And knew no other kin.
Independence
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Coriolanus (Coriolanus at V, iii)
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If you can look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.
Independence
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Macbeth (Banquo at I, iii)
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Fare you well, my lord, and believe this of me: there can be no
kernel in this light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes.
Trust him not in matter of heavy consequence.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: All's Well That Ends Well (Lafew at II, v)
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(Cloten:) Thou villain base,
Know'st me not by my clothes?
(Guiderius:) No, nor thy tailor, rascal,
Who is thy grandfather. He made those clothes,
Which, as it seems, make thee.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Cymbeline (Cloten & Guiderius at IV, ii)
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Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Polonius at I, iii)
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See where she comes, apparelled like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Pericles Prince of Tyre (Pericles at I, i)
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So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Romeo and Juliet (Juliet at III, ii)
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And now, my honey love,
Will we return unto thy father's house
And revel it as bravely as the best,
With silken coats and caps and golden rings,
With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things;
With scarfs and fans and double change of brav'ry,
With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knav'ry.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio at IV, iii)
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He will come to her in yellow stockings, and 'tis a color she
abhors, and cross-gartered, a fashion she detests; and he will
smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her
disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it
cannot but turn him into a notable contempt.
Apparel
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Twelfth Night, or, What You Will (Maria at II, v)
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The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword,
Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
Th' observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
Fashion
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Ophelia at III, i)
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You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred; only I do not like
the fashion of your garments.
Fashion
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: King Lear (King Lear at III, vi)
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Death my lord,
Their clothes are after such a pagan cut to 't
That sure th' have worn out Christendom.
Fashion
Quotes, by William Shakespeare , Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Chamberlain at I, iii)
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