William Shakespeare Famous Quotes

William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564  – 23 April 1616) 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 around 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

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

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

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

When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore, so do our minutes, hasten to their end.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

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

If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?

The course of true love never did run smooth.

If music be the food of love, play on.

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

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

This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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

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

We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

What is past is prologue.

Farewell, fair cruelty.

The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.

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

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.

We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from... Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.

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

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.

There is no darkness but ignorance.

To be, or not to be, that is the question.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

The wheel is come full circle.

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

The golden age is before us, not behind us.

This above all; to thine own self be true.

Listen to many, speak to a few.

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

Desire of having is the sin of covetousness.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know

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

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

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.

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