Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

William Shakespeare Playwright

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: Apr 26, 1564
  • Died: Apr 23, 1616

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later.

I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion. death

Faith, there hath been many great men that have flattered the people who ne'er loved them. faith, greatness & men

Life every man holds dear but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life. life

We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone. time

Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well and yet words are not deeds. being good

The course of true love never did run smooth. love

Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known? courage & love

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano A stage where every man must play a part, And mine is a sad one. sadness

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. sympathy

Men's vows are women's traitors! men & women

Men shut their doors against a setting sun. men

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils. music

Cowards die many times before their deaths the valiant never taste of death but once. death

If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me. time

If music be the food of love, play on. food, love & music

Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. men & women

The valiant never taste of death but once. death

The evil that men do lives after them the good is oft interred with their bones. being good & men

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. being good

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time. nature & time

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. love & trust

Ignorance is the curse of God knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. God, intelligence & knowledge

Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying! men

They do not love that do not show their love. love

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage. being good & marriage

I shall the effect of this good lesson keeps as watchman to my heart. being good

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow. being good & romance

When we are born we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools. greatness

O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world! God

Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds. love

Love is too young to know what conscience is. love

Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains. peace

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. being good

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. love

Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment. love

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad and to travel for it too! experience, sadness & travel

Speak low, if you speak love. love

But men are men the best sometimes forget. best & men

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course. men

A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. aging

If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor. men

To do a great right do a little wrong. greatness

Fishes live in the sea, as men do a-land the great ones eat up the little ones. greatness, men & nature

Well, if Fortune be a woman, she's a good wench for this gear. being good

Women may fall when there's no strength in men. men, strength & women

The golden age is before us, not behind us. aging

Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. life

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact. imagination

I bear a charmed life. life

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. God

Love to faults is always blind, always is to joy inclined. Lawless, winged, and unconfined, and breaks all chains from every mind. love

In time we hate that which we often fear. fear & time

No, I will be the pattern of all patience I will say nothing. patience

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. greatness

The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, which hurts and is desired. death

The love of heaven makes one heavenly. love

Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better. being good & love

There have been many great men that have flattered the people who ne'er loved them. greatness & men

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. being good

When a father gives to his son, both laugh when a son gives to his father, both cry. Father's Day

There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. art

A peace is of the nature of a conquest for then both parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser. nature & peace

It is a wise father that knows his own child. Father's Day

Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent. trust

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottage princes' palaces. being good & men

As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words. love

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. the future

An overflow of good converts to bad. being good

For I can raise no money by vile means. money

Time and the hour run through the roughest day. time

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. nature

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. being good, life & nature

But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes. happiness

God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another. God

'Tis best to weigh the enemy more mighty than he seems. best

Now, God be praised, that to believing souls gives light in darkness, comfort in despair. faith & God

Death is a fearful thing. death

Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear. fear

Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness. hope & New Year's Day

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me. time

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? patience

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