Welcome to the timeless world of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet," one of the most profound literary masterpieces of all time. Shakespeare’s extraordinary talent in capturing the complexity of human emotions, existential struggles, and reflective musings has birthed a treasure trove of memorable quotes. Whether you're exploring themes of life, death, love, betrayal, or simply grappling with the human condition, there's a line in "Hamlet" for every mood and moment. In this article, we delve into 10 fascinating subtitles, each with 12 inspiring quotes from this iconic play. Prepare to be moved, enlightened, and challenged by the depth and relevance of Hamlet’s words.
To Be or Not To Be Quotes
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune..."
"...Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them."
"To die: to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache..."
"The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, the insolence of office..."
"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor's wrong?"
"The dread of something after death – the undiscovered country…”
"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."
"The native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought."
"And enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard their currents turn awry."
"Soft you now, the fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered."
"Be all my sins remembered."
Life and Existentialism Quotes
"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty!”
"In apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!"
"To what base uses we may return. Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander?"
"Frailty, thy name is woman!"
"O! that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew."
"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!"
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."
"What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed?"
"Give me that man that is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core."
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."
"O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!"
"The readiness is all."
Death and Mortality Quotes
"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy."
"To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander?”
"Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away."
"The rest is silence."
"Death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns."
"Your worm is your only emperor for diet."
"Golden lads and girls all must as chimney-sweepers come to dust."
"For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil."
"Ay, there’s the rub!"
"This fell sergeant, death, is strict in his arrest."
"Lay her i’ the earth: And from her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring."
"The cat will mew and dog will have his day."
Love and Heartache Quotes
"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move."
"Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."
"I did love you once."
"What a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword...”
"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."
"I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum."
"Go thy ways to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?"
"Take these again; for to the noble mind rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."
"Her speech is nothing, yet the unshaped use of it doth move the hearers to collection."
"That it should come to this!”
"Hear you, sir; give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."
"O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever the soul of Nero enter this firm bosom."
Betrayal and Deception Quotes
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
"The plays the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king."
"'Tis now the very witching time of night; when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out..."
"One may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
"Denmark’s a prison."
"Let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp."
"How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!"
"O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!”
"No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds."
"The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body."
"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions."
Wisdom and Reflection Quotes
"This above all: to thine ownself be true."
"Give thy thoughts no tongue."
"Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment."
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."
"Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."
"The apparel oft proclaims the man."
"Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor."
"Purpose is but the slave to memory."
"We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us."
"Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes."
"Listen to many, speak to a few."
Fate and Destiny Quotes
"There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."
"And since nature cannot choose his origin..."
"Not a whit, we defy augury: there is special providence in the fall of a sparrow."
"The readiness is all."
"If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all."
"Our wills and fates do so contrary run, that our devices still are overthrown."
"O God, Horatio, what a wounded name shall live behind me!"
"He that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after."
"Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men’s eyes."
"Let Hercules himself do what he may, the cat will mew, and dog will have his day."
"Fortune’s a strumpet."
"There is a destiny that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."
Madness and Insanity Quotes
"How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, as I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on."
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go."
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t."
"I am but mad north-north-west."
"Was’t Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet."
"That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft."
"This is the very ecstasy of love."
"O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!"
"Her madness hath the primal elder curse upon it, a brother's murder!"
"Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?"
"What would you undertake to show yourself in deed your father’s son more than in words?"
"I am essentially not in madness, but mad in craft."
Family and Loyalty Quotes
"A little more than kin, and less than kind."
"Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric; I am justly killed with mine own treachery."
"The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown."
"A brother’s love cannot atone for infidelity."
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
"O that this too solid flesh would melt."
"The King, the King’s to blame!”
"How now, a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!”
"O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"
"Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where but in’s own house."
"Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
"Leave her to heaven and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her."
Famous Last Words Quotes
"The rest is silence."
"O, I die, Horatio."
"But I do prophesy th' election lights on Fortinbras."
"Tell my story to the unsatisfied."
"Absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain."
"So shall you hear of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts."
"Let four captains bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage."
"But let it be. Horatio, I am dead; thou livest."
"Horatio, I die; thou livest: report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied."
"O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt."
"The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit."
"If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile."
Final words
"Hamlet" remains one of literature’s most eloquent explorations of the vast range of human emotions and experiences—life, death, love, revenge, madness, fate, and family. In this article, we’ve uncovered 10 vital themes through 120 of the Bard’s most brilliant lines. Such quotes remind us of the universal truths about human existence, always relevant despite the passage of centuries. Whether you’re facing your own existential questions, pondering betrayal, reflecting on the inevitability of mortality, or rejoicing in the depth of love and loyalty, these quotes resonate deeply. As Shakespeare’s masterpiece echoes through time, may Hamlet’s wisdom inspire your reflections and lend you courage through life’s storms.
