William Shakespeare Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings

2,311 Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare
“What's gone, and what's past help, Should be past grieve.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Paulina at III, ii)
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“Fear not the future, weep not for the past.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught: Our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“Revenge and wrong bring forth their kind; The foul cubs like their parents are.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“As wither'd roses yield a late perfume.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“Sceptre and crown must tumble down And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade.”
Proverbs Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Autolycus at IV, iv)
“I can tell thee where that saying was born, of 'I fear no colors.'”
Proverbs (general) Quotes
Source: Twelfth Night, or, What You Will (Maria at I, v)
“Oh, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer!”
Suffering Quotes
Source: The Tempest (Miranda at I, ii)
“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from human haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: As You Like It (Duke Senior at II, i)
“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: As You Like It (Duke Senior at II, i)
“A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry. But were we burd'ned with like weight of pain, As much or more we should ourselves complain: So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, With urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me; But if thou live to see like right bereft, This fool-begged patience in thee will be left.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: The Comedy of Errors (Adriana at I, ii)
“Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, For wise men say it is the wisest course.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part III (King Henry at III, i)
“His overthrow heaped happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Griffith at IV, ii)
“Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: Romeo and Juliet (Friar Laurence at III, iii)
“Then know, that I have little wealth to lose. A man I am, crossed with adversity; My riches are these poor habiliments, Of which if you should here disfurnish me, You take the sum and substance that I have.”
Adversity Quotes
Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine at IV, i)
“Well, I must be patient; there is no fettering of authority.”
Authority Quotes
Source: All's Well That Ends Well (Parolles at II, iii)
“Shall remain! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark you His absolute 'shall'?”
Authority Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Coriolanus at III, i)
“Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar? . . . And the creature run from the cur. There thou mightst behold the great image of authority--a dog's obeyed in office.”
Authority Quotes
Source: King Lear (King Lear at IV, vi)
“Those he commands move only in command, Nothing in live. Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe Upon a dwarfish thief.”
Authority Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Angus at V, ii)
“Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offense by weight The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will, On whom it will not, so: yet still 'tis just.”
Authority Quotes
Source: Measure for Measure (Claudio at I, ii)
“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.”
Authority Quotes
Source: Measure for Measure (Isabella at II, ii)
“He seems to be of great authority. Close with him, give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold.”
Authority Quotes
Source: The Winter's Tale (Clown at IV, iv)
“I pray you all, If you have hitherto concealed this sight, Let it be tenable in your silence still. And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, Give it an understanding but no tongue.”
Secrecy Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at I, ii)