William Shakespeare Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings

2,311 Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare
“'A took my father grossly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven?”
Murder Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at III, iii)
“No place indeed should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds.”
Murder Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Claudius, King of Denmark at IV, vii)
“O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!”
Murder Quotes
Source: Julius Caesar (Antony at III, i)
“Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”
Murder Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Macbeth at II, ii)
“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
Source: Macbeth (Macbeth at III, iv)
“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
Source: The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (Clarence at I, iv)
“O, how full of briers is this working-day world!”
Work Quotes
Source: As You Like It (Rosalind at I, iii)
“What work's, my countrymen, in hand? Where go you With bats and clubs? The matter? Speak, I pray you.”
Work Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Menenius at I, i)
“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
Source: The History of Troilus and Cressida (Pandarus at I, i)
“Another lean unwashed artificer Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death.”
Work Quotes
Source: The Life and Death of King John (Hubert at IV, ii)
“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
Source: Love's Labor's Lost (Berowne at IV, iii)
“The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.”
Occupations Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at V, i)
“Instinct is a great matter. I was now a coward on instinct.”
Instinct Quotes
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part I (Prince Henry at II, iv)
“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
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Ophelia at III, i)
“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
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (King Henry at IV, v)
“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
Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (Boy at IV, v)
“What's the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!”
Sound Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth at II, iii)
“Hear me profess sincerely: had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike, and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius, I had rather have eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.”
Patriotism Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Volumnia at I, iii)
“I do love My country's good with a respect more tender, More holy and profound, then mine own life, My dear wife's estimate, her womb increase, And treasure of my loins.”
Patriotism Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Cominius at III, iii)
“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.”
Patriotism Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Cominius at III, iii)
“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
Source: Coriolanus (Coriolanus at V, iii)
“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
Source: Macbeth (Banquo at I, iii)
“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
Source: All's Well That Ends Well (Lafew at II, v)
“(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
Source: Cymbeline (Cloten & Guiderius at IV, ii)
“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
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Polonius at I, iii)
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