William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare Quotes
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''This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.''
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hippolyta, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 5, sc. 1, l. 210. Watching the play of "Pyramus and Thisbe." -
''She that was ever fair, and never proud,
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Iago, in Othello, act 2, sc. 1, l. 148-9, 156-9. Any woman ("wight") so perfect would be fit only to have fools for children and be concerned with trivialities ("small beer"); Iago's litany ends characteristically in contempt.
Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud
...
She that could think, and ne'er disclose her mind,
See suitors following, and not look behind.
She was a wight, if ever such wight were
To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.'' -
''So tedious is this day
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet, act 3, sc. 2, l. 28-31. Waiting impatiently for Romeo to come to her on her wedding night.
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.'' -
''Use mercy to them all.''
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry V, act 3, sc. 3, l. 54. -
''I can add colors to the chameleon,
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British poet. King Henry VI, Pt. III (III, ii). FaPoR. The Unabridged William Shakespeare, William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, eds. (1989) Running Press.
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.'' -
''I have done no harm. But I remember now
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Lady Macduff, in Macbeth, act 4, sc. 2, l. 74-7.
I am in this earthly world, where to do harm
Is often laudable, to good sometimes
Accounted dangerous folly.'' -
''When you depart from me, sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave.''
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Leonato, in Much Ado About Nothing, act 1, sc. 1, l. 101-2. Expressing his pleasure in welcoming guests. -
''Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Macbeth, in Macbeth, act 3, sc. 4, l. 49-50. On seeing the ghost of the murdered Banquo.
Thy gory locks at me.'' -
''They say best men are moulded out of faults,
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Mariana, in Measure for Measure, act 5, sc. 1, l. 439-41. Speaking about Angelo, now her husband.
And for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad.'' -
''If ye should lead her in a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior.''
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Nurse, in Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 4, l. 165-7. Speaking to Romeo about Juliet; "a fool's paradise" means a state of delusory happiness.
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All The World's A Stage
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. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in ...
Sonnet Cviii
What's in the brain that ink may character
Which hath not figured to thee my true spirit?
What's new to speak, what new to register,
That may express my love or thy dear merit?
Nothing, sweet boy; but yet, like prayers divine,
I must, each day say o'er the very same,
Counting no old thing old, thou mine, I thine,
Even as when first I hallow'd thy fair name.
So that eternal love in love's fresh case