Famous Shakespeare quotations

“To be, or not to be: that is the question”

3.1 — Hamlet weighs life against death.

“Frailty, thy name is woman!”

1.2 — Hamlet condemns what he sees as his mother’s weakness.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

1.4 — Marcellus senses corruption beneath courtly order.

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks”

3.2 — Gertrude comments during the players’ performance.

“Brevity is the soul of wit”

2.2 — The talkative Polonius praises concision.

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”

2.2 — Polonius detects purpose in Hamlet’s strange conduct.

“Get thee to a nunnery”

3.1 — Hamlet rejects Ophelia in a scene of contested motives.

“What a piece of work is a man!”

2.2 — Hamlet admires humanity while confessing his despair.

“All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players”

2.7 — Jaques describes the seven ages of human life.

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?”

2.2 — Juliet asks why Romeo belongs to the rival Montagues.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet”

2.2 — Juliet separates Romeo from his family name.

“Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow”

2.2 — Juliet prolongs the lovers’ farewell.

“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York”

1.1 — Richard opens the play after his family’s victory.

“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”

5.4 — Richard seeks escape in the final battle.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”

3.2 — Antony begins his funeral speech for Caesar.

“Beware the ides of March”

1.2 — A soothsayer warns Caesar.

“Cowards die many times before their deaths”

2.2 — Caesar dismisses fear.

“Et tu, Brute?—Then fall, Caesar!”

3.1 — Caesar recognises Brutus among the assassins.

“Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war”

3.1 — Antony imagines vengeance after Caesar’s death.

“If music be the food of love, play on”

1.1 — Orsino indulges his passion for Olivia.

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em”

2.5 — A forged letter flatters Malvolio.

“Journeys end in lovers meeting”

2.3 — Feste sings of love and the present moment.

“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit”

1.5 — Feste defends the wisdom of a licensed fool.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”

3.1 — Henry rallies his soldiers at Harfleur.

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”

4.3 — Henry addresses his army before Agincourt.

“Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn and cauldron bubble”

4.1 — The witches chant over their cauldron.

“Out, damned spot!”

5.1 — Lady Macbeth imagines blood upon her hands.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me”

2.1 — Macbeth sees a vision before Duncan’s murder.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”

1.1 — The witches introduce a world of moral inversion.

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”

5.5 — Macbeth responds bleakly to news of his wife’s death.

“The course of true love never did run smooth”

1.1 — Lysander recognises that lovers face obstacles.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

3.2 — Puck watches the lovers’ confusion.

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows”

2.1 — Oberon describes Titania’s resting place.

“We are such stuff / As dreams are made on”

4.1 — Prospero reflects on a vanished masque and mortal life.

“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows”

2.2 — Trinculo shelters beside Caliban.

“The quality of mercy is not strained”

4.1 — Portia argues that mercy cannot be compelled.

“If you prick us, do we not bleed?”

3.1 — Shylock insists upon common humanity.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Line 1 — The speaker begins a meditation on beauty and verse.

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments”

Lines 1–2 — The poem defines steadfast love.

“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”

Line 1 — The speaker rejects exaggerated praise.

“Nothing will come of nothing”

1.1 — Lear presses Cordelia to speak.

“The wheel is come full circle”

5.3 — Edmund recognises the return of consequence.

“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!”

1.4 — Lear curses Goneril’s ingratitude.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”

3.1 — The sleepless king reflects on royal anxiety.

“Exit, pursued by a bear”

3.3 — A startling stage direction ends Antigonus’s scene.

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle”

2.1 — John of Gaunt praises England while lamenting its rule.

“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more”

2.3 — Balthasar sings about male inconstancy.

“Kill Claudio”

4.1 — Beatrice tests Benedick’s loyalty after Hero is shamed.

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster”

3.3 — Iago appears to warn Othello while planting suspicion.

“I kissed thee ere I killed thee”

5.2 — Othello dies beside Desdemona.

“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety”

2.2 — Enobarbus describes Cleopatra’s allure.