William Shakespeare

The Top 10 Quotations by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often referred to as England's national poet and the 'Bard of Avon.' His works (including plays, sonnets, and poems) consist of 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative poems. His plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare's work covers various themes including love, power, jealousy, betrayal, and the supernatural.

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William Shakespeare's 39 Plays

Here is a list of Shakespeare's 39 plays. They have been categorized into comedies, tragedies, and histories. Within each categorization, they are ordered by the date of writing, from earliest to latest. Click on the link to see the top 3 quotations from each play.

Comedies (17)

Here is a list of Shakespeare's comedies in chronological order. Scholars note that his comedies evolved from youthful wordplay and farce (e.g, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors) into more mature, romantic stories of wit and emotion (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice).

About half way through his career, his tone darkened with his so-called "problem plays" (All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure), where comedy wrestles with moral tension and realism. In Shakespeare's later years, his comedies transformed again into serene "romances" that blended loss and forgiveness.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1590–1591)
The Comedy of Errors (c. 1592–1594)
The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1593–1594)
Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1594–1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595–1596)
The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596–1597)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1597–1598)
Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598–1599)
As You Like It (c. 1599–1600)
Twelfth Night (c. 1601–1602)
All's Well That Ends Well (c. 1604–1605)
Measure for Measure (c. 1604–1605)
The Tempest (c. 1610–1611)
The Winter's Tale (c. 1610–1611)
Cymbeline (c. 1609–1610)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (c. 1607–1608)
The Two Noble Kinsmen (c. 1613–1614)

Tragedies (10)

Shakespeare's tragedies progressed from violence and passion to profound observations of the human mind and morals. His early works (e.g., Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet) featured a lot of bloodshed and fate, while his middle masterpieces (e.g., Hamlet, Othello) focused more on ambition and jealousy.

In his later tragedies (e.g., Timon of Athens, Coriolanus), Shakespeare's work grew darker, focusing on themes such as alienation and disillusionment.

Titus Andronicus (c. 1591–1592)
Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595–1596)
Julius Caesar (c. 1599)
Hamlet (c. 1600–1601)
Othello (c. 1603–1604)
King Lear (c. 1605–1606)
Macbeth (c. 1606)
Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606–1607)
Timon of Athens (c. 1607–1608)
Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609)

Histories (12)

When viewed chronologically, Henry VI, Part 1 comes after Part 2 and Part 3. Scholars assess that Shakespeare composed it to provide background to the civil strife already dramatized in his earlier plays, showing how England's losses in France and growing rivalries among nobles set the stage for the Wars of the Roses. In doing so, he created one of literature's earliest examples of a prequel (i.e., a story that provides the origins of a story already told.)

Shakespeare's history plays evolved from patriotic stories of war and ambition into profound studies of leadership and conscience. His early works (e.g., The Henry VI trilogy and Richard III, dramatized England's violent battles and betrayals. In the middle sequence (from Richard II through Henry V), Shakespeare focused more on legitimacy and rebellion.

His later histories (e.g., King John and Henry VIII) were more reflective, replacing much of the violence with moral questioning and pageantry.

Henry VI, Part 2 (c. 1590–1591)
Henry VI, Part 3 (c. 1590–1591)
Henry VI, Part 1 (c. 1591–1592)
Richard III (c. 1592–1593)
Richard II (c. 1595)
King John (c. 1596)
Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1596–1597)
Henry IV, Part 2 (c. 1597–1598)
Henry V (c. 1598–1599)
Henry VIII (c. 1612–1613)
Edward III (c. 1592–1593, partial authorship)
Sir Thomas More (c. 1595–1600, partial authorship)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 3. Launce says this, comically over-weeping about leaving home.)

I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 3. Launce says this, roasting his dog in one of Shakespeare's great pet jokes.)

If I had not had more wit than he, to take a fault upon me that he did, I think verily he had been hanged for't.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 4. Launce says this, absurdly claiming he saved his dog by taking the blame.)

The Comedy of Errors

Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Antipholus of Syracuse says this, hilariously bewildered by the nonstop mistaken identities.)

They say every why hath a wherefore.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Dromio of Syracuse says this, deadpanning that even nonsense must have a reason in this chaos.)

There's no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Dromio of Syracuse says this, spinning a slapstick philosophy out of baldness.)

The Taming of the Shrew

If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Katherina says this, tossing a barbed threat that's both witty and character-defining.)

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Petruchio says this, bluntly mercenary in a way that's so brazen it's funny.)

Thus have I politicly begun my reign.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 1. Petruchio says this, mock-kingly about ‘taming,' lampooning male swagger.)

Love's Labour's Lost

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear of him that hears it.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 2. Rosaline says this, poking fun at snobbery and joke-explaining.)

They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 1. Moth says this, mocking pedants who gorge on words.)

Your oath is passed to pass away from these.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Berowne says this, winking at the doomed vow to avoid women.)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Puck says this, gleefully skewering human love-folly.)

The course of true love never did run smooth.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Lysander says this, and the play's mix-ups hilariously prove it.)

This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 1. Hippolyta says this, perfectly reviewing the terrible play-within-a-play.)

The Merchant of Venice

All that glisters is not gold.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 7. The Prince of Morocco reads this, a wry punchline to the gold-casket gamble.)

Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but in the end truth will out.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Launcelot Gobbo says this, turning proverb soup into comedy.)

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 3. Antonio says this, a tart joke about hypocrites.)

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Why, then the world's mine oyster.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Pistol says this, boasting in a delightfully nonsensical way.)

This is the short and the long of it.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Mistress Quickly says this, bumbling into an idiom we still use.)

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Early-bird advice played for a laugh amid farce.)

Much Ado About Nothing

I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Beatrice says this, roasting romance with perfect bite.)

Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Hero says this, joking about their sneaky matchmaking.)

Kill Claudio.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 1. Beatrice says this, a shock-laugh line that flips from wit to fury.)

As You Like It

All the world's a stage.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 7. Jaques says this, a grand metaphor served with dry wit.)

I do desire we may be better strangers.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Orlando says this, a courtly way to say “please go away,” hence funny.)

Much virtue in ‘if'.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 4. Touchstone says this, lampooning lawyerly hedging.)

Twelfth Night

If music be the food of love, play on.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Orsino says this, comically over-dramatic about his own lovesickness.)

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 5. Malvolio reads this, hilariously duped by a fake love letter.)

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 5. Feste says this, clowning the pompous.)

All's Well That Ends Well

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. The Countess says this, a neat moral that's disarmingly practical.)

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 3. First Lord says this, ruefully humorous about human muddle.)

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 5. A tidy, proverbial punchline in a play of tricks.)

Measure for Measure

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

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 4. Lucio says this, slickly motivating with punchy paradox.)

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Escalus says this, mordant commentary on topsy-turvy morality.)

But man, proud man, dress'd in a little brief authority...

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Isabella says this, skewering petty tyrants so sharply it's funny.)

The Tempest

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Trinculo says this, joking as he hides with a “monster.”)

What have we here? a man or a fish?

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Trinculo says this, a perfect fish-out-of-water gag.)

We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 1. Prospero says this; lofty, but the sudden pageant-poof makes it wry.)

The Winter's Tale

I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Archidamus says this, calmly introducing the dramatic upheavals to come.)

We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun; And did bleat the one at the other: what we changed was innocence for innocence.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Polixenes says this, nostalgically remembering childhood innocence.)

"A sad tale's best for winter."

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Mamillius says this, humorously favouring melancholy as suitable for cold weather.)

Cymbeline

Every jack-slave hath his bellyful of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that nobody can match.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Cloten says this, boasting in cartoonish macho style.)

Lest the bargain should catch cold and starve.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 4. Posthumus says this, whimsically warning against delay in love's deals.)

Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages: Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 2. Guiderius says this, philosophically turning youthful pride into mortality's joke.)

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

For death remembered should be like a mirror, Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it error.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Pericles says this, wittily reminding us life is fragile.)

Few love to hear the sins they love to act.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Pericles says this, sharply pointing out human hypocrisy.)

"To sing a song that old was sung, From ashes ancient Gower is come."

William Shakespeare (Prologue. Chorus/Gower says this, playfully introducing the tale as a revival of an old story.)

The Two Noble Kinsmen

This world's a city full of straying streets, and death's the market-place where each one meets.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 5. Third Queen says this, darkly mocking the world's maze-like dangers.)

"Their knot of love, Tied, weaved, entangled, with so true, so long, And with a finger of so deep a cunning, May be outworn, never undone."

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 3. Hippolyta says this, grandly describing the tangled bonds of love.)

"Whilst Palamon is with me, let me perish If I think this our prison."

William Shakespeare (Act 2, Scene 2. Arcite says this, comically equating imprisonment with his love's torment.)

Titus Andronicus

O, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Titus says this, hilariously theatrical even in grief.)

I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow!

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Titus says this, drowning his sorrow in wordplay.)

If there were reason for these miseries, then into limits could I bind my woes.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Titus says this, over-reasoning his own tragedy to grim absurdity.)

Romeo and Juliet

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Juliet says this, humorously rationalizing that names—like feuds—shouldn't matter.)

Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Mercutio says this punningly as he dies, turning tragedy into black comedy.)

Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 3. Friar Laurence says this, ironically funny given how fast everything unravels.)

Julius Caesar

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Caesar says this, dramatic irony turned almost darkly humorous by its over-familiar fame.)

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

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Caesar says this, unaware his bravery is about to backfire.)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Antony says this, tongue-in-cheek flattery before his deadly oration.)

Hamlet

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Polonius says this, thinking himself clever while missing the joke entirely.)

Brevity is the soul of wit.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Polonius says this in a long-winded speech, perfectly self-satirizing.)

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 1. Hamlet says this, joking darkly over a skull about mortality's absurdity.)

Othello

I am not what I am.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Iago says this, with wicked humor at his own hypocrisy.)

Men should be what they seem.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 3. Iago says this, mockingly advising the very virtue he lacks.)

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 3. Iago says this, ironically giving sound advice while plotting evil.)

King Lear

Nothing will come of nothing.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Lear says this, missing the irony that his own nothing-thinking leads to ruin.)

Better thou hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Lear says this to Cordelia, so harsh it becomes tragically absurd.)

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 5. The Fool says this, comically cutting Lear to the truth.)

Macbeth

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Macbeth says this, his nervous hallucination turning grim horror into eerie humor.)

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 1. Lady Macbeth says this, darkly comic in her futile attempt to wash away guilt.)

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 5. Macbeth says this, grimly mocking the futility of life itself.)

Antony and Cleopatra

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Enobarbus says this, admiring Cleopatra's timeless flair with affectionate humor.)

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, burn'd on the water.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Enobarbus says this, describing Cleopatra's entrance so lavishly it's near parody.)

O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 5. Cleopatra says this, jealously flirting with comic exaggeration.)

Timon of Athens

I am sick of this false world, and will love naught but even the mere necessities upon't.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 3. Timon says this, bitterly funny in his self-imposed exile.)

I'll nothing give but what is mine own.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Timon says this, ironically generous before his downfall.)

The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 3. Apemantus says this, snarkily summarizing Timon's all-or-nothing foolishness.)

Coriolanus

What is the city but the people?

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Sicinius says this, unwittingly triggering political farce.)

Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as day does night.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 5. Aufidius says this, so overzealous it borders on absurd.)

There is a world elsewhere.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 3. Coriolanus says this, haughty mic-drop as he's banished.)

Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Cressida says this, humorously sharp about male desire.)

The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 3. Ulysses says this, scathingly comic about human nature.)

Henry VI, Part 2

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 2. Dick the Butcher says this, a darkly funny cry for chaos.)

Small things make base men proud.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 1. Suffolk says this, wryly noting petty vanity.)

Thou hast spoken truer than thou canst devise.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Gloucester says this, unintentionally punning on irony.)

Henry VI, Part 3

The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. Clifford says this, grimly funny about desperate defiance.)

Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Gloucester says this, dark humor before becoming Richard III.)

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 6. Clarence says this, morbidly true and dryly phrased.)

Henry VI, Part 1

Glory is like a circle in the water, which never ceaseth to enlarge itself till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Suffolk says this, turning vanity into metaphorical comedy.)

Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch, between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 4. York says this, bragging in animal metaphors like a sports fan.)

Here's a silly stately style indeed!

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 4. Warwick says this, mocking pompous rhetoric mid-play.)

Richard III

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Richard says this, playfully twisting optimism to villainy.)

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 4. Richard says this, hilariously desperate in defeat.)

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Was ever woman in this humour won?

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Richard says this, bragging with sardonic self-delight.)

Richard II

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle...

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. John of Gaunt says this, so grandly patriotic it verges on parody.)

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 5. Richard says this, wryly aware of his own irony at last.)

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Richard says this, mordantly dramatic about his own downfall.)

King John

Strong reasons make strong actions.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 4. King John says this, boasting of logic right before doing something rash.)

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily...

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 2. Salisbury says this, humorously skewering overdoing it — and coining a cliché.)

He that perforce robs lions of their hearts may easily win a woman's.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. The Bastard says this, cheekily mixing valor and flirtation.)

Henry IV, Part 1

If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 2. Prince Hal says this, a smart, sly jab at laziness.)

Discretion is the better part of valor.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 4. Falstaff says this, comically excusing his cowardice.)

The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.

William Shakespeare (Act V, Scene 4. Falstaff repeats this with self-satisfied logic that's both funny and true.)

Henry IV, Part 2

We have heard the chimes at midnight.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 2. Falstaff says this, nostalgically funny about wasted youth.)

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. King Henry says this, wryly summing up royal insomnia.)

He hath eaten me out of house and home.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. Mistress Quickly says this, vividly comic about Falstaff's appetite.)

Henry V

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 1. Henry says this, with such fire it almost parodies itself.)

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 3. Henry says this, gloriously rousing and slightly overblown.)

I think the King is but a man as I am.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 1. Henry says this in disguise, humorously humble about his own kingship.)

Henry VIII

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.

William Shakespeare (Act IV, Scene 2. Griffith says this, elegantly bleak about memory and fame.)

My drops of tears I'll turn to sparks of fire.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 4. Queen Katharine says this, dramatic defiance laced with irony.)

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 1. Norfolk says this, with dry humor about political overreach.)

Edward III

And teach thy ears to miss me with thy looks; And teach my lips to scorn, since they have sworn To be forsworn by thee.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 1. The Countess of Salisbury says this, half-mocking her own resistance to flattery.)

Arm, arm, brave soldiers; the foe is nigh; Our work is done if once the general fall.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 3. Edward says this, rallying with gusto that borders on theatrical heroics.)

Hath conquered fear and now begins to crow.

William Shakespeare (Act III, Scene 3. Prince Edward says this, humorously proud of his new-found courage.)

Sir Thomas More

Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise Hath chid down all the majesty of England; imagine that you see the wretched strangers, their babies at their backs...

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 4. More says this, with passionate wit against mob cruelty.)

Men buy their time dearly to be hanged.

William Shakespeare (Act I, Scene 3. More says this, dryly jesting about the cost of crime.)

Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy if I could say how much.

William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2. More says this, humorously underplaying his own delight in classic understatement.)

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