Quotes from work
Hamlet

William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet , is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

William Shakespeare photo

“More matter with less art.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause, there's the respect, That makes calamity of so long life”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

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

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“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

William Shakespeare photo

“Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,
'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the
readiness is all.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true.
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Polonius, Act I, scene iii.
Source: Hamlet (1600–1)

William Shakespeare photo

“What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“A little more than kin, a little less than kind.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“Where is Polonius?
HAMLET
In heaven. Send hither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But if indeed you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“It is not, nor it cannot, come to good,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Variant: But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

William Shakespeare photo

“I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Variant: O God, I could be bound in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space – were it not that I have bad dreams.
Source: Hamlet