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William Shakespeare Quotes

Writer

William Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers in history, whose works have shaped literature, language, and storytelling for centuries. His words explore love, ambition, power, tragedy, and the complexity of human nature. The following quotes capture Shakespeare’s timeless insight and the enduring relevance of his poetic genius.

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Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
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It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
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Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.
From Twelfth Night
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Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were
but little happy if I could say how much.
From Much Ado About Nothing
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Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
From The Tempest
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Good Madonna, why mournest thou?
Good Fool, for my brother's death.
I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven.
From Twelfth Night
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Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;
Life and these lips have long been separated:
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
From Romeo and Juliet
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And will 'a not come again?
And will 'a not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy death bed:
He will never come again.
From Hamlet
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The summer's flower is to the summer sweet
Though to itself it only live and die
From The Complete Sonnets and Poems
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True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.
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Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace!
And, lips, oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!
From Romeo and Juliet
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Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.
From The Tempest
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Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come
From Julius Caesar
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Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.
From Macbeth
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This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt.
From King Lear
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There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring [making music] to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it.
From The Merchant of Venice
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To be, or not to be, that is the question.
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Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
From The Tempest
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The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
From Measure for Measure
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We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.
From Antony and Cleopatra
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I drink to the general joy o’ the whole table." Macbeth
From Macbeth
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Sweets to the sweet, farewell! I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not have strewed thy grave.
From Hamlet
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The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
From Julius Caesar
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Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.
From Richard II
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Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.
From Twelfth Night
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were
but little happy if I could say how much.
From Much Ado About Nothing
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Good Madonna, why mournest thou?
Good Fool, for my brother's death.
I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven.
From Twelfth Night
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;
Life and these lips have long been separated:
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
From Romeo and Juliet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
And will 'a not come again?
And will 'a not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy death bed:
He will never come again.
From Hamlet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet
Though to itself it only live and die
From The Complete Sonnets and Poems
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace!
And, lips, oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!
From Romeo and Juliet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come
From Julius Caesar
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.
From Macbeth
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt.
From King Lear
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring [making music] to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it.
From The Merchant of Venice
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
From Measure for Measure
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.
From Antony and Cleopatra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I drink to the general joy o’ the whole table." Macbeth
From Macbeth
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Sweets to the sweet, farewell! I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not have strewed thy grave.
From Hamlet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
From Julius Caesar
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.
From Richard II
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.
From Twelfth Night
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were
but little happy if I could say how much.
From Much Ado About Nothing
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Good Madonna, why mournest thou?
Good Fool, for my brother's death.
I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven.
From Twelfth Night
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;
Life and these lips have long been separated:
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
From Romeo and Juliet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
And will 'a not come again?
And will 'a not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy death bed:
He will never come again.
From Hamlet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet
Though to itself it only live and die
From The Complete Sonnets and Poems
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace!
And, lips, oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!
From Romeo and Juliet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come
From Julius Caesar
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.
From Macbeth
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt.
From King Lear
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring [making music] to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it.
From The Merchant of Venice
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
From The Tempest
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
From Measure for Measure
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.
From Antony and Cleopatra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I drink to the general joy o’ the whole table." Macbeth
From Macbeth
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Sweets to the sweet, farewell! I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not have strewed thy grave.
From Hamlet
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
From Julius Caesar
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.
From Richard II
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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