In an age where social appearances matter like never before and with the many ways you could impress someone, there’s one medium that will never, never ever fail to show those around you how smart and how educated you are. Want to guess what that is? Well, it’s an easy guess since you probably read the article’s title before opening it. Yup, it’s the never-failing Shakespeare quotes that are guaranteed to elevate your mind and your social persona to the heights of the master’s quill. All you have to do is pick some of the moving quotes from our Shakespeare quotes list, memorize or jot them down somewhere, and voila - instant smarts!
You might know Shakespeare as the greatest (if not The Greatest) story writer ever, but did you know that he’s also responsible for creating puns? And not only puns but also the predecessor of Yo Mamma jokes? See, the old scribbler, besides being ingeniously genius, also had a nice sense of humor, which is just another witness of his soaring intelligence, of course. So while no one will ever top Shakespeare’s wit and grace of the pen, we can at least enter into his mind by reading these smart quotes of his. And that ain’t too shabby at all!
So, scroll on down below and check out our selection of the most impressive Shakespeare quotes. Once you are there, vote for the world-shattering and eye-opening quotes of your choice and share this article with anyone who’s in need of some quality content today.
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“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” - 'All's Well That Ends Well'
“‘Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to support them after.” - 'Timon Of Athens'
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” - Gloucester, 'King Henry VI'
“‘I can see that he’s not in your good books,’ said the messenger. ‘No, and if he were I would burn my library.'” - 'Much Ado About Nothing'
“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” - 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” - Touchstone, 'As You Like It'
Dunning kruger effect described long before that duo was born. Amazing really...
“Though she be but little, she is fierce." - Helena, 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.” - Jaques, 'As You Like It'
“The fault… is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar"
“How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” - 'Merchant of Venice'
“To be, or not to be: that is the question.” - Prince Hamlet, 'Hamlet'
I swear everyone is made to memorize this. Lol. I am a Shakespeare historian and I remember at age 13 we read Hamlet and had to learn this. Personally even given how famous this is it’s not one of the best things he wrote yet it was preformed by the troop for the queen of England at the first performance. If you read the full quote very clearly it corresponds to a battle England was in at the time. Shakespeare wrote what he knew about and is very famous for putting similarities to exactly what was happening at the time he wrote in to each play all you have to do is look. There are actually many things that he could have been considered treasonous for writing but each time they were overlooked due to his skill level of writing and the greatness of his actors for being able to preform them to not make royals look ignorant.
“You speak an infinite deal of nothing.” - 'The Merchant of Venice'
“Words are easy, like the wind; faithful friends are hard to find.”
This is not by Shakespeare. However the book it is in is credited to him us Shakespeare scholars only believe 4-5 poems in here he wrote. My personal opinion is that even less were written by him considering one is about the death of his son and sounds very much like a woman wrote it yet in a similar manner I personally believe that at least that one may have been written by his wife. This statement sounds very similar to the writer Marlowe in style I personally am comparing it to Faustus for which I have read. Much of the writing of Tudor authors and playwrights are similar.
“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.” - Lady Macbeth, 'Macbeth'
“Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.” - 'King Henry VIII'
“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” - 'As You Like It'
“Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake.” - 'Romeo & Juliet'
“Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak.” - 'As You Like It'
“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.” - Beatrice, 'Much Ado About Nothing'
“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” - 'As You Like It'
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” - 'Sonnet 18'
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
Macbeth, which also contains the phrase ''Double double toil and trouble Fire burn and cauldron bubble'
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” – Iago, "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice"
“If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.” - 'Hamlet'
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” - Juliet, 'Romeo and Juliet'
I'm old enough to know better and I think I would still fall for this line.
“They do not love that do not show their love.” - Julia, 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona'
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” - Romeo, 'Romeo and Juliet'
“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?” - Bene, 'Much Ado about Nothing'
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.” - ' Sonnet 18'
“How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath to say to me that thou art out of breath?” - Juliet, 'Romeo and Juliet'
“Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.” - 'King John'
“O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” – Othello, "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice"
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”
“And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.” – “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”
“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” – Othello, "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice"
“I am one who loved not wisely but too well.” – Othello, "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice"
“A young woman in love always looks like patience on a monument smiling at grief.” – "Twelfth Night"
“Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. Then your love would also change.” – Juliet, "Romeo and Juliet"
“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” – "Sonnet 116"
“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand that I might touch that cheek!” – Romeo, "Romeo and Juliet"
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
“Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.”
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”
“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.”
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up o-er wrought heart and bids it break.”
“For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds.”
“Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love.”
“If music be the food of love, play on.” – Orsino, "Twelfth Night"
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day."
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day."
