100+ Ways to Cite a Quote from a Play: Master the Art of Dramatic Citations

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt." – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

"Is this a dagger which I see before me?" – Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day." – Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

"All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players." – As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

"Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York." – Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1

"How all occasions do inform against me." – Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4

"Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn and cauldron bubble." – Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues." – Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3

"I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition." – Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7

"The undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns." – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason!" – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

"If thou remember'st not the slightest folly / That ever love did make thee run into, / Thou hast not loved." – As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 2

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1

"Come, civil night, / Thou sober-suited matron, all in black." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; / Doubt that the sun doth move; / Doubt truth to be a liar; / But never doubt I love." – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

"Jove shield me from those two that would discourse! / I am like to call them back again and sweat." – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 1

"I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest." – King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1

"If music be the food of love, play on." – Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1

"She dwelt among the untrodden ways / Beside the springs of Dove." – The Winter’s Tale, Act 4, Scene 4

"When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew." – As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5

"Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown." – Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 1

"I am determined to prove a villain." – Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." – Henry IV, Part 2, Act 3, Scene 1

"I have sworn to keep her fairly." – Othello, Act 1, Scene 3

"Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2

"There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." – Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3

"I charge thee, fling away ambition." – Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 2

"Powerful rivals embroil the main." – Coriolanus, Act 4, Scene 7

"The king shall fear / No private enemies." – Henry VI, Part 1, Act 1, Scene 1

"I am no orator, as Brutus is." – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2

"I hold him but a fool / That will endanger his body to put down / An enemy’s crest." – Troilus and Cressida, Act 5, Scene 3

"Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls." – Richard II, Act 2, Scene 2

"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" – Richard III, Act 5, Scene 4

"Better a witty fool than a foolish wit." – Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5

"I do wear my face for mine own convenience." – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2

"The fool thinks he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." – As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 1

"I was born under a rhyming planet." – Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 4, Scene 3

"I am not of those that can say nothing." – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1

"I am a fool, I am, for every word I speak." – Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5

"This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons peas." – As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 1

"He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the cover thereof shoots his wit." – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1

"I have been in many places, but never nowhere." – Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1

"Words, words, words." – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

"The rest is silence." – Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2

"I could a tale unfold whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul." – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war." – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1

"I am dying, Egypt, dying." – Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 15

"My way of life is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf." – Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3

"Lay on, Macduff; / And damned be he that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" – Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8

"I must be cruel, only to be kind." – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4

"I have done those things which now I suffer." – Othello, Act 5, Scene 2

"The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right!" – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

"I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee. No way but this; / Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." – Othello, Act 5, Scene 2

"I go, I go; look how I go, swim, swim!" – Titus Andronicus, Act 4, Scene 2

"I am not in the giving vein today." – Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on." – The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1

"Nothing will come of nothing." – King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1

"Men at some time are masters of their fates." – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2

"Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage." – Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

"The world is still deceived with ornament." – The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1

"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!" – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

"Our little life is rounded with a sleep." – The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1

"The quality of mercy is not strained." – The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." – The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." – All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 3

"Off with his head!" – Alice in Wonderland (often misattributed to Shakespeare)

"Seize her! Take her!" – Othello, Act 4, Scene 1

"Bring forth the horses!" – Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3

"Sound trumpets!" – Henry V, Act 3, Scene 6

"Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

"Look thou character." – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4

"Let every soldier hew him down a bough." – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 1

"Go, get thee home, good daughter." – King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1

"Call up her father." – Othello, Act 1, Scene 1

"Away, away!" – Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1

"Let us hence, and lose no time." – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1

"Be gone, and fetch my strongest pikes." – Coriolanus, Act 1, Scene 1

[Enter Ghost] – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1

[Exit, pursued by a bear] – The Winter’s Tale, Act 3, Scene 3

[Thunder and lightning] – Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1

[They fight] – Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1

[Music plays] – Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4

[Dies] – Othello, Act 5, Scene 2

[Weeping] – King Lear, Act 3, Scene 4

[Knocking within] – Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

[Flourish of trumpets] – Henry V, Act 4, Scene 8

[A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard] – The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 1

[They embrace] – Antony and Cleopatra, Act 1, Scene 3

[Exeunt, all but Hamlet] – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair." – Witches, Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1

"Something wicked this way comes." – Second Witch, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

"Thrice to thine and thrice to mine, / And thrice again to make up nine." – Witches, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

"I am thy father’s spirit." – Ghost, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises." – Caliban, The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 2

"You elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves..." – Prospero, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1

"I conjure you, by the names adjoined / To the most holy trinity." – Doctor Faustus (Marlowe), often grouped with Elizabethan drama

"No more I’ll cross to old Norway." – Ghost, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

"By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes." – Second Witch, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

"I’ll charm the air to give a sound / While you perform your antic round." – Ariel, The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 3

"Thou art invisible as air." – Duke of Gloucester, King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6

"The charm dissolves apace, / And as the morning steals upon the night, / Melting the darkness." – Prospero, The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1

"The play is ended. We'll strive to please you every day." – The Taming of the Shrew, Epilogue

"And makes misformed chaos leap with beauty daily." – Venus and Adonis (narrative poem, often cited)

"For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3

"So, go along, my lords: bid them farewell." – Othello, Act 5, Scene 2

"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, / Hath not old custom made this life more sweet?" – As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 1

"Give me your hands, if we be friends, / And Robin shall restore amends." – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1

"The time invites you. I am yours, for ever." – Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince." – Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2

"Romeo! My husband! Then, my grave is like to be my wedding bed." – Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5

"The sun shall not go down upon my indignation." – King John, Act 5, Scene 7

"I have promised to dine with you, and you have promised to sup with me." – Twelfth Night, Act 5, Scene 1

"And when I came, I was not sent before." – The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 5, Scene 4