100+ Timeless Shakespeare Quotes for Inspiration and Reflection
In the enduring realm of literature, William Shakespeare stands as a monumental figure whose profound insights into human nature have transcended centuries. His quotes have not only captured the drama and romance of his plays but have also resonated with universal truths and emotions. This collection of famous Shakespeare quotes is categorized under ten thoughtful subtitles, each exploring a distinct aspect of human experience. These quotes invite readers to reflect on themes such as love's folly, the inevitability of fate, life's brevity, and the essence of friendship. By diving into these powerful words, one can grasp the timeless wisdom that his works continue to impart to audiences around the world. With interpretations that touch on psychology, relationships, and existential musings, these quotes reveal Shakespeare as an unmatched observer of the human condition.
“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.” – Hamlet
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – A Midsummer Night's Dream
“When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.” – Romeo and Juliet
“The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night's Dream
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – Romeo and Juliet
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” – Sonnet 18
“I do love nothing in the world so well as you – is not that strange?” – Much Ado About Nothing
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep.” – Romeo and Juliet
“Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?” – As You Like It
“Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service.” – The Tempest
“Love is louring as a stormy sky, Unchecked, it becomes a tempest’s tide.” – Sonnet 116
“What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.” – Measure for Measure
“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
“Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.” – Cymbeline
“Men at some time are masters of their fates.” – Julius Caesar
“The wheel is come full circle.” – King Lear
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” – Julius Caesar
“This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Hamlet
“Such as we are made of, such we be.” – Twelfth Night
“When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” – King Lear
“O brave new world, That has such people in't!” – The Tempest
“What’s past is prologue.” – The Tempest
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – As You Like It
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet
“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” – Hamlet
“The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” – Hamlet
“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.” – Othello
“All that glisters is not gold.” – The Merchant of Venice
“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” – Romeo and Juliet
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – As You Like It
“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
“Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.” – Henry V
“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” – Adapted from Shakespeare’s works
“I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends.” – Richard II
“Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.” – The Passionate Pilgrim
“Friendship is constant in all other things save in the office and affairs of love.” – Much Ado About Nothing
“Keep thy friend under thy own life's key.” – All’s Well That Ends Well
“For who so firm that cannot be seduced?” – Julius Caesar
“The band that seems to tie their friendship together will be the very strangler of their amity.” – Antony and Cleopatra
“I am wealthy in my friends.” – Timon of Athens
“A friend should bear his friend's infirmities.” – Julius Caesar
“In time we hate that which we often fear.” – Antony and Cleopatra
“Oftentimes to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths.” – Macbeth
“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.” – Much Ado About Nothing
“Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other.” – Macbeth
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition.” – Macbeth
“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” – Julius Caesar
“The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” – Hamlet
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – Henry IV, Part 2
“I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” – The Merchant of Venice
“The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” – Hamlet
“Beware the Ides of March.” – Julius Caesar
“It's but nothing else; my ambition is to see the future king.” – Henry VI, Part 2
“I charge thee, fling away ambition by that sin fell the angels.” – Henry VIII
“I give to thee, to fright thee, over the senses in my art.” – The Tempest
“When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” – King Lear
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” – Macbeth
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.” – Romeo and Juliet
“I will be brief: your noble son is mad.” – Hamlet
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost.” – Romeo and Juliet
“Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.” – Cymbeline
“If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended.” – A Midsummer Night's Dream
“Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die.” – Hamlet
“A peace is of the nature of a conquest; For then both parties nobly are subdued.” – Henry IV, Part 2
“Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath.” – Romeo and Juliet
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince.” – Hamlet
“So costly your burial shall be; None shall know it.” – Henry IV, Part 2
“Et tu, Brute?” – Julius Caesar
“This was the most unkindest cut of all.” – Julius Caesar
“O beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.” – Othello
“To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” – Hamlet
“Knavery's plain face is never seen till us'd.” – Othello
“One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” – Hamlet
“I am not what I am.” – Othello
“The better part of valour, is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
“Though those who are betrayed do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor stands in worse case of woe.” – Cymbeline
“The time is out of joint.” – Hamlet
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” – Macbeth
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” – The Tempest
“To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub.” – Hamlet
“I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.” – A Midsummer Night's Dream
“Yet, in these thoughts myself almost despising.” – Sonnet 29
“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” – Romeo and Juliet
“But love is blind, and lovers cannot see.” – The Merchant of Venice
“I, dreaming, am awake.” – Henry VI, Part 2
“The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.” – A Midsummer Night's Dream
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” – Julius Caesar
“What light through yonder window breaks?” – Romeo and Juliet
“Sweet are the uses of adversity.” – As You Like It
“All that we are is but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” – Macbeth
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – Henry IV, Part 2
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.” – Julius Caesar
“He, being remiss, Most generous and free from all contriving, Will not peruse the foils.” – Hamlet
“I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” – King Lear
“The strong shall hold the weak; even the very weakest, the dreams.” – Henry VI, Part 1
“What is past is prologue.” – The Tempest
“The pound of flesh which I demand of him, Is dearly bought; 'tis mine, and I will have it.” – The Merchant of Venice
“A little more than kin, and less than kind.” – Hamlet
“The better part of Valour, is Discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1
“Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.” – Hamlet
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – Measure for Measure
“How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” – Othello
“Out, out brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow.” – Macbeth
“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – The Merry Wives of Windsor
“The time of life is short; to spend that shortness basely were too long.” – Henry IV, Part 1
“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” – Richard II
“Time, thou must untangle this, not I.” – Twelfth Night
“Time's glory is to calm contending kings.” – The Rape of Lucrece
“Defer no time; delays have dangerous ends.” – Henry VI, Part 1
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.” – Sonnet 116
“Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” – Macbeth
“What's past is prologue.” – The Tempest
“Time is the justice that examines all offenders.” – As You Like It
“Nothing will come of nothing.” – King Lear
