William Shakespeare's Hamlet has left an indelible mark on literature and human expression. Its eloquent dialogue offers insights into human nature, existential dilemmas, and moral quandaries. This article explores the best quotes from Hamlet, presenting ten categories of quotes to shed light on the timeless wisdom and depth of Shakespeare's work. Each category features twelve quotes that encapsulate different facets of the play's complex characters and themes. From pondering existence to expressing love, vengeance, and madness, these quotes have resonated through the ages, leaving audiences with much to contemplate. Delve into this collection and discover the enduring power of Hamlet's words.
Quotes on Existence
"To be, or not to be, that is the question."
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
"What a piece of work is man!"
"When we have shuffled off this mortal coil."
"This above all: to thine own self be true."
"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"
"I must be cruel, only to be kind."
"The dread of something after death."
"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."
"To die: to sleep; no more."
"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."
"To sleep, perchance to dream."
Quotes on Madness
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
"I am but mad north-north-west."
"It is not madness I have uttered."
"Mad for thy love?"
"Your noble son is mad."
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go."
"Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means."
"Never doubt I love."
"What a falling-off was there!"
"Assume a virtue, if you have it not."
"O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven."
"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
Quotes on Revenge
"Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder."
"If thou didst ever thy dear father love."
"I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father."
"A villain kills my father."
"Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell."
"The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!"
"O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody."
"Now could I drink hot blood."
"I dare damnation."
"In my heart there was a kind of fighting."
"Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned."
"I am pigeon-livered and lack gall."
Quotes on Love
"Doubt thou the stars are fire."
"I did love you once."
"I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
"O, heart, lose not thy nature."
"Speak the speech, I pray you."
"This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof."
"Give me that man that is not passion’s slave."
"This is I, Hamlet the Dane."
"I will wear him in my heart’s core."
"This is the very ecstasy of love."
"O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!"
Quotes on Death
"To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks."
"That the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn no traveller returns."
"Death, the undiscover'd country."
"Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die."
"Imperious Caesar, dead and turn’d to clay."
"The rest is silence."
"Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends."
"Now cracks a noble heart."
"To what base uses we may return!"
"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio."
"Lay her i’ the earth."
Quotes on Corruption and Decay
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
"Foul deeds will rise."
"O, my offence is rank."
"A little more than kin, and less than kind."
"The time is out of joint."
"It will but skin and film the ulcerous place."
"The serpent that did sting thy father’s life."
"Give me some light. Away!"
"In my mind’s eye."
"The earth, seems to me a sterile promontory."
"Rank corruption, mining all within."
"This bodes some strange eruption to our state."
Quotes on Fate
"There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow."
"Our wills and fates do so contrary run."
"I defy augury."
"How all occasions do inform against me."
"O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt."
"Fortune's a fickle wheel."
"If it be now, ’tis not to come."
"The readiness is all."
"What is a man if his chief good are the market of his time."
"Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o'erwhelm them."
"They fool me to the top of my bent."
"That we would do, we should do when we would."
Quotes on Folly and Wisdom
"Words, words, words."
"Brevity is the soul of wit."
"Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be."
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
"Give thy thoughts no tongue."
"Get thee to a nunnery."
"I will speak daggers to her, but use none."
"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."
"He was a man, take him for all in all."
"Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping?"
"This is the very coinage of your brain."
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Quotes on Mortality
"The end crowns all."
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow."
"Life's but a walking shadow."
"A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage."
"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
"Death will have his day."
"Bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague the inventor."
"Heaven will direct it."
"Is this a dagger which I see before me?"
"Disasters in the sun."
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on."
"What dreams may come."
Quotes on Guilt and Conscience
"O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven."
"A guilty conscience needs no accuser."
"For mine eyes will rivet to his face."
"Get thee to a nunnery."
"O God! A beast, that wants discourse of reason."
"The canker galls the infants of the spring."
"I must be cruel, only to be kind."
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below."
"One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
"O heavenly powers, restore him!"
"Conscience does make cowards of us all."
"This is the very painting of your fear."
Final words
Hamlet's eloquence is as powerful today as it was over 400 years ago when Shakespeare first penned his masterpiece. Each quote from the play provides an intricate look at the vast array of human emotions and circumstances, exploring themes of existence, madness, revenge, love, death, and many more. These reflections continue to inspire and provoke thought, highlighting the timeless and universal nature of Shakespeare’s insights into the human condition. As these quotes reveal, Hamlet is not just a tale of tragedy but one of profound human truths that speaks to every generation. Exploring these quotes not only enriches our understanding of Hamlet but also allows us to reflect on our own lives and the world around us. The universality of these themes ensures that Hamlet remains an essential part of literary and cultural discussions. Through its enduring quotes, Hamlet will forever hold the mirror up to nature, showing us who we are and what we might become.
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