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William Shakespeare Quotes
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698 Quotes Revealing Timeless Wisdom on Love, Trust, and Human Nature

Discover the timeless wisdom of William Shakespeare through his most famous quotes. From the complexities of love to the depths of human nature, these insightful words will captivate and inspire. Explore Shakespeare's profound observations on trust, beauty, love, and the inevitability of death.

William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and one of the most influential playwrights of all time. Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, he married Anne Hathaway at a young age and went on to have three children. In London, he established a successful career as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company. Shakespeare's works include 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three narrative poems, and various other verses. His plays have been translated into numerous languages and continue to be studied and performed worldwide.

Shakespeare's early works were comedies and histories, showcasing his mastery in these genres. Later in his career, he focused more on tragedies such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, which are regarded as some of the finest works in English literature. In his later years, he wrote tragicomedies and collaborated with other playwrights. While little is known about his personal life, there has been ongoing speculation about his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether some of his works were actually written by others. His legacy lives on through the enduring popularity of his plays and the continued exploration of his profound impact on literature.

✵ 1564 – 23. April 1616
William Shakespeare photo
William Shakespeare: 699 quotes1104 likes

William Shakespeare Quotes

“She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore to be won.”

William Shakespeare Henry VI, Part 1

Suffolk, Act V, scene iii.
Source: Henry VI, Part 1 (1592)

“Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither.
Ripeness is all.”

William Shakespeare King Lear

Source: King Lear

“The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders
At out quaint spirits.”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp with truth and loyalty.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

“We are oft to blame in this, -
'tis too much proved, - that with devotion's visage,
and pios action we do sugar o'er
the devil himself.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.”

William Shakespeare Othello

Source: Othello

“We few. We happy few.
We band of brothers, for he today
That sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother.”

William Shakespeare Henry V

Source: Henry V

“Tis safter to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall with our English dead.”

William Shakespeare Henry V

Source: Henry V

“To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand; therefore, if tou art mov'd, thou runst away. (To be angry is to move, to be brave is to stand still. Therefore, if you're angry, you'll run away.)”

William Shakespeare

“If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her, she would infect to the north star!”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?”

William Shakespeare book Shakespeare's Sonnets

Source: Shakespeare's Sonnets

“In nature there's no blemish but the mind.
None can be called deformed but the unkind.”

William Shakespeare Twelfth Night

Source: Twelfth Night

“Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.”

William Shakespeare Twelfth Night

Source: Twelfth Night

“Drown thyself? Drown cats and blind puppies.”

William Shakespeare Othello

Source: Othello

“Love's not love
When it is mingled with regards that stand
Aloof from th' entire point.”

William Shakespeare King Lear

Source: King Lear

“Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words”

William Shakespeare

“O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! And yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all hooping.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

“Eternity was in our lips and eyes.”

William Shakespeare

“Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,
Can play upon it.”

William Shakespeare Henry IV, Part 2

Source: Henry IV, Part 2

“All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.”

William Shakespeare book Shakespeare's Sonnets

Source: Shakespeare's Sonnets

“Under the greenwood tree,
Who loves to lie with me
And tune his merry note,
Unto the sweet bird's throat;
Come hither, come hither, come hither.
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

“Suffer love! A good ephitet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“Macbeth:
If we should fail?

Lady Macbeth:
We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth

“Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives
must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.”

William Shakespeare King Lear

Source: King Lear

“It is not night when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night;
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you in my respect are all the world:
Then how can it be said I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“And it is very much lamented,…
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye
That you might see your shadow.”

William Shakespeare Julius Caesar

Source: Julius Caesar

“And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world,
And where thou art not, desolation.”

William Shakespeare

Source: King Henry VI, Part 2

“Don't trust the person who has broken faith once.”

William Shakespeare

“For trust not him that hath once broken faith”

William Shakespeare

Source: King Henry VI, Part 3

“Good with out evil is like light with out darkness which in turn is like righteousness whith out hope.”

William Shakespeare All's Well That Ends Well

Source: All's Well That Ends Well

“There is nothing serious in Mortality”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth

“I long to hear the story of your life, which must captivate the ear strangely.”

William Shakespeare The Tempest

Source: The Tempest

“Not proud you have, but thankful that you have. Proud can I never be of what I hate, but thankful even for hate that is meant love.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head”

William Shakespeare Titus Andronicus

Source: Titus Andronicus

“Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.”

William Shakespeare Othello

Source: Othello

“There is a world elsewhere.”

William Shakespeare Coriolanus

Source: Coriolanus

“What, you egg?”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth