William Shakespeare Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings

2,311 Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare
“Ay, gentle Thurio, for you know that love Wilt creep in service where it cannot go.”
Service Quotes
Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Proteus at IV, ii)
“My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty.”
Duty Quotes
Source: Othello the Moor of Venice (Desdemona at I, iii)
“And, may I say to thee, this pride of hers, Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her; And, where I thought the remnant of mine age Should have been cherished by her childlike duty, I now am full resolved to take a wife And turn her out to who will take her in.”
Duty Quotes
Source: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Duke of Milan at III, i)
“But ere we could arrive the point proposed, Caesar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'”
Help Quotes
Source: Julius Caesar (Cassius at I, ii)
“Now, ye familiar spirits that are culled Out of the powerful legions under earth, Help me this once, that France may get the field.”
Help Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part I (Pucelle at V, iii)
“A sceptre snatched with an unruly hand Must be as boisterously maintained as gained, And he that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.”
Help Quotes
Source: The Life and Death of King John (Pandulph at III, iv)
“If it be honor in your wars to seem The same you are not,--which, for your best ends, You adopt your policy--how is it less or worse, That it shall hold companionship in peace With honour, as in war: since that to both It stands in like request?”
Companionship Quotes
Source: Coriolanus (Volumnia at III, ii)
“A little more than kin, and less than kind!”
Kindness Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at I, i)
“Have you the heart? When your head did but ache, I knit my handkercher about your brows-- The best I had, a princess wrought it me-- And I did never ask it you again; And with my hand at midnight held your head, And like the watchful minutes to the hour, Still and anon cheered up the heavy time, Saying, 'What lack you?' and 'Where lies your grief?'”
Kindness Quotes
Source: The Life and Death of King John (Arthur at IV, i)
“Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way.”
Kindness Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth at I, v)
“For thou hast given me in this beauteous face A world of earthly blessings to my soul, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.”
Sympathy Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part II (King Henry at I, i)
“Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentany as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!' The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion.”
Sympathy Quotes
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lysander at I, i)
“His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm Crested the world: his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra at V, ii)
“The gates of monarchs Are arched so high that giants may jet through And keep their impious turbans on without Good morrow to the sun.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: Cymbeline (Belarius at III, iii)
“There's such divinity doth hedge a king That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Claudius, King of Denmark at IV, v)
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (King Henry at III, i)
“And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part III (Richard, Duke of Gloucester at IV, vii)
“Ay, every inch a king.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: King Lear (King Lear at IV, vi)
“O, how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors! There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, More pangs and fears than wars or women have; And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Wolsey at III, ii)
“At length her grace rose and with modest paces Came to the altar, where she kneeled, and saint-like Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly; Then rose again and bowed her to the people; When by the Archbishop of Canterbury She had all the royal makings of a queen, As holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown, The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems Laid nobly on her; which performed, the choir With all the choicest music of the kingdom Together sung 'Te Deum.' So she parted And with the same full state packed back again To York Place, where the feast is held.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Third Gentleman at IV, i)
“Every subject's duty is the king's, but every subject's soul is his own.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (King Henry at IV, i)
“The king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temp'rance, stableness, Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, I have no relish of them, but abound In the division of each several crime, Acting in many ways.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Malcolm at IV, iii)
“A substitute shines brightly as a king Until a king be by, and then his state Empties itself, as dot an inland brook Into the main of waters.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Merchant of Venice (Portia at V, i)
“We will ourself in person to this war; And, for our coffers, with too great a court And liberal largess, are grown somewhat light, We are enforced to farm our royal realm, The revenue whereof shall furnish us For our affairs in hand.”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second (King Richard at I, iv)
“For God's sake let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings! How some have been deposed, some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed, Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed-- All murdered; for within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits, Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp; Allowing him a breath, a little scene, To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks; Infusing him with self and vain conceit, As if this flesh which walls about our life Were brass impregnable; and humored thus, Comes at the last, and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king! Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood With solemn reverence, Throw away respect, Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty; For you have but mistook me all this while. I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief, Need friends. Subjected thus,”
Royalty Quotes
Source: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second (King Richard at III, ii)
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