William Shakespeare Quotes, Quotations, and Sayings

2,311 Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare
“Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies, There to dispose this treasure in mine arms And secretly to greet the empress's friends.”
Swallows Quotes
Source: Titus Andronicus (Aaron at IV, ii)
“I heard a bird so sing, Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.”
Birds Quotes
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (Lancaster at V, v)
“The woosel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill-- . . . . The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain-song cuckoo grey, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And dares not answer nay.”
Birds Quotes
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bottom at III, i)
“I have heard The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of the day, and at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies To his confine; and of the truth herein This present object made probation.”
Cocks Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Horatio at I, i)
“Hark, hark! I hear The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry cock-a-diddle-dowe.”
Cocks Quotes
Source: The Tempest (Ariel at I, ii)
“The early village cock Hath twice done salutation to the morn: Your friends are up and buckle on their armor.”
Cocks Quotes
Source: The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (Ratcliffe at V, iii)
“Anon, as patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are disclosed, His silence will sit drooping.”
Doves Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Gertrude, Queen of Denmark at V, i)
“. . . The dove and very blessed spirit of peace, . . .”
Doves Quotes
Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (Westmoreland at IV, i)
“So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.”
Doves Quotes
Source: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo at I, v)
“Last night the very gods showed me a vision-- I fast and prayed for their intelligence--thus: I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, winged From the spongy south to this part of the west, There vanished in the sunbeams; which portends, Unless my sins abuse my divination, Success to th' Roman host.”
Eagles Quotes
Source: Cymbeline (Soothsayer at IV, ii)
“My free drift Halts not particularly, but moves itself In a wide sea of wax; no levelled malice Infects one comma in the course I hold, But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on, Leaving no tract behind.”
Eagles Quotes
Source: The Life of Timon of Athens (Poet at I, i)
“The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wings He can at pleasure stint their melody: Even so mayest thou the giddy men of Rome.”
Eagles Quotes
Source: Titus Andronicus (Tamora at IV, iv)
“The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby.”
Eagles Quotes
Source: Titus Andronicus (Tamora at IV, iv)
“On Tuesday last A falcon, now tow'ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.”
Falcons Quotes
Source: Macbeth (Ross at II, iv)
“My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged, For then she never looks upon her lure.”
Falcons Quotes
Source: The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio at IV, i)
“When they him spy, As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, Rising and cawing at the gun's report, Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky; So at his sight away his fellows fly, And at our stamp here o'er and o'er one falls; He murder cries and help from Athens calls.”
Geese Quotes
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck at III, ii)
“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. [Lat., Idem Accio quod Titio jus esto.]”
Geese Quotes
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck at III, ii)
“I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.”
Hawks Quotes
Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Hamlet at II, ii)
“Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch, Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth, Between two blades, which bears the better temper, Between two horses, which doth bear him best, Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye, I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment; But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.”
Hawks Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part I (Warwick at II, iv)
“No marvel, an it like your majesty, My Lord Protector's hawks do tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.”
Hawks Quotes
Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part II (Suffolk at II, i)
“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk.”
Hawks Quotes
Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (Dauphin at III, vii)
“Dost thou love hawking? Thou hast hawks will soar Above the morning lark.”
Hawks Quotes
Source: The Taming of the Shrew (Lord at induction, ii)
“What, is the jay more precious than the lark Because his feathers are more beautiful? Or is the adder better than the eel Because his painted skin contents the eye?”
Jays Quotes
Source: The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio at IV, iii)
“Now begin; For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing runs Close by the ground, to hear our conference.”
Lapwings Quotes
Source: Much Ado About Nothing (Hero at III, i)
“Then my dial goes not true; I look this lark for a bunting.”
Larks Quotes
Source: All's Well That Ends Well (Lafew at II, v)
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