Shakespeare Quotes: Insights into the Master of Words

To be or not to be, that is the question. – Hamlet

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. – All’s Well That Ends Well

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. – As You Like It

The course of true love never did run smooth. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This above all: to thine own self be true. – Hamlet

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. – Twelfth Night

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. – Julius Caesar

We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. – The Tempest

There is no darkness but ignorance. – Twelfth Night

All that glitters is not gold. – The Merchant of Venice

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. – Romeo and Juliet

The better part of valor is discretion. – Henry IV, Part 1

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. – Hamlet

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. – Julius Caesar

Though she be but little, she is fierce. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The course of true love never did run smooth. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Shakespeare Quotes: Insights into the Master of Words part 2

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. – Romeo and Juliet

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. – Hamlet

If music be the food of love, play on. – Twelfth Night

What’s past is prologue. – The Tempest

Love is blind, and lovers cannot see. – The Merchant of Venice

Brevity is the soul of wit. – Hamlet

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. – As You Like It

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. – Julius Caesar

Parting is such sweet sorrow. – Romeo and Juliet

When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain. – Richard II

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. – Hamlet

What’s done is done. – Macbeth

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. – Twelfth Night

But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. – Hamlet

The weight of this sad time we must obey; speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. – King Lear

Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs. – Romeo and Juliet

The love of heaven makes one heavenly. – Love’s Labour’s Lost

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. – The Merchant of Venice

I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety. – Henry V

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion. – King Lear

I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it. – As You Like It

O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. – Measure for Measure

With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls; for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt. – Romeo and Juliet

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me. – Richard II

That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. – Romeo and Juliet

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. – Hamlet

I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. – Measure for Measure

Listen to many, speak to a few. – Hamlet

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. – Henry IV, Part 2

Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. – Twelfth Night

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces. – The Merchant of Venice

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive! – Sir Walter Scott (oftenattributed as a Shakespeare quote)