Online Shakespeare

Poems  Plays  Contents

[He] speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them; and when you have them, they are not worth the search Merchant of Venice

[Your] horrid image doth unfix my hair Macbeth

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! Richard III

A most poor man made tame to fortune’s blows King Lear

A world too wide for his shrunk shank As you Like It

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times. And now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite chop-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come. Make her laugh at that Hamlet

All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told The Merchant of Venice

All that is within him does condemn itself for being there Macbeth

And gentlemen in England, now abed,
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here;
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day Henry V

As from a bear a man would run for life,So fly I from her that would be my wife Comedy of Errors

As mad as the vexed sea King Lear

Asses are made to bear, and so are you The Taming of the Shrew

Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustilarion! I'll tickle your catastrophe! Henry IV Part 2

Ay, me. You juggler! You canker blossom! A Midsummer Night's Dream

Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em Twelfth Night

Beauty doth of itself persuade

The eyes of men without an orator The Rape of Lucrece

Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. As You Like It

But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon `em. Twelfth Night

By heaven, my soul is purg'd from grudging hate,
And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. Richard III

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. Macbeth

Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge...
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war...Julius Caesar

Come, madam wife, sit by my side and let the world slip: we shall ne’er be younger.

The Taming of the Shrew

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:

Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care. The Passionate Pilgrim

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition.
By that sin fell the angels. Henry VIII

Didst thou but know the ilny touch of love,
Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow
As seek to quench the fire of love with words. The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Do not repent these things, for they are heavier

Than all thy woes can stir; therefore betake thee

To nothing but despair. A thousand knees

A thousand years together, naked, fasting

Upon a barren mountain, and still winter

In storm perpetual, could not move the gods

To look that way thou wert. The Winter's Tale

Do you now know that I am a woman? when I think, I must speak. Rosalind

Down on your knees, and thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love. As You Like It

Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither. Henry VI Part 3

Et tu, Brute! Julius Caesar

False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand,

Hog in sloth; fox in stealth; wolf in greediness,

Dog in madness, lion in prey. Othello

Falstaff sweats to death and lards the lean earth as he walks along. Henry IV Part 1

False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Macbeth

Fie, fie, you counterfeit. You puppet, you! A Midsummer Night's Dream

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

With most miraculous organ. Hamlet

For there was never yet a philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently. Much Ado About Nothing

For to the noble mind

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. Hamlet

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones...
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason! Julius Caesar

Get gone, you dwarf! A Midsummer Night's Dream

Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself

Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought. Henry VI Part I

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash...
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed. Othello

Had I but served my God with half the zeal

I had served my king, he would not in mine age

Have left me naked to mine enemies. Henry VIII

Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love
That inward beauty and invisible,
Or were I deaf, they outward parts would move
Each part in me that were but sensible. Venus and Adonis

Have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner? Macbeth

He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon. Romeo and Juliet

He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stoln, Let him not know't, and he's not robb'd at all. Othello

He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath. King Lear

Her salt tears fell from her and softened the stones. Othello

Here we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears. The Merchant of Venice

Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Macbeth

Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood. As you Like It

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. The Merchant of Venice

How poor are they that ha' not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Thou know'st we work by wit and not by witchcraft,
And wit depends on dilatory time. Othello

How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat! Dead! Hamlet

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! The Merchant of Venice

I am a feather for each wind that blows. The Winter's Tale

I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead. King Lear

I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. Hamlet

I am sure my love's
More ponderous than my tongue. King Lear

I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain time to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purg'd away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
would harrow up thy soul... Hamlet

I am very ill at ease, unfit for my own purposes. Othello

I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false way. Henry IV Part 2

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; 
If wealthily, then happily in Padua. The Taming of the Shrew

I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Hamlet

I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun

And wish the estate o’ the world were now undone. Macbeth

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad. All's Well That Ends Well

I have a good eye uncle;
I can see a church by daylight. Much Ado About Nothing

I have no power to let her pass,
My hand would free her, but my heart says no.
As plays the sun upon the glassy streams,
Twinkling another counterfeited beam,
So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes.
Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak.
Henry VI

I have no words, my voice is my sword. Macbeth

I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire. Henry IV Part 2

I saw his heart in his face. The Winter's Tale

I stumbled when I saw. King Lear

I think the devil will not have [you] damned, lest the oil that's in [you] should set hell on fire. The Merry Wives of Windsor

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

I would not marry her, though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed. Much Ado About Nothing

I would ‘twere bedtime and all well. Henry IV Part 1

If thou art rich, thou art poor; for, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows, thou bearest the heavy riches but a journey, and death unloads thee.

If thy offences were upon record, Would it not shame thee, in so fair a troop, To read a lecture of them? Richard II

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

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 Merchant of Venice

In our last conflict four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man govern'd with one. Much Ado About Nothing

Infirm of purpose! Macbeth

Into the vale of years. Othello

It is my study to seem despiteful and ungentle to you. As You Like It

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble Reputation. As you Like It

Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love. The Taming of The Shrew

Lay her i' the earth, and from her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring! Hamlet

Lay on, MacDuff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" Macbeth

Let ever man be master of his time. Macbeth

Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous...
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not.
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius...
I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar. Julius Caesar

Look in mine eyeballs, there they beauty lies;
Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes?
Venus and Adonis

Lord, what fools these mortals be! A Midsummer Night's Dream

Love is merely a madness. Rosalind

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. Olivia, Twelfth Night

Love's fire heats water, water cools not love. Sonnet 154, 14

Love's reason's without reason. Cymbeline

Men are as the time is. Edmund

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,
Coral is far more red than her lips' red.
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfurmes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go:
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare. Sonnet 130

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
Claudius, Hamlet, III.III.97

Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight
With hearts more proof than shields.
Coriolanus

O good man, how well in thee appears

The constant service of the antique world,

Where none will sweat but for promotion. As you Like It

O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength,
But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant...
Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder.
Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulfurous bolt
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarle'd oak
Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal. Measure for Measure

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse they name,
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet...
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy...
What's Montague? It is not hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet. Romeo and Juliet

O Sir, we quarrel in print, by the book, as you have books for good manners. I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct. As You Like It

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! Hamlet

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger...
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot!
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge,
Cry, "God for Harry! England and Saint George!" Henry V

One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun
Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun.Romeo and Juliet

One good deed dying tongueless slaughters a thousand waiting upon that. The Winter's Tale

One that lies three thirds and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once heard and thrice beaten. All's Well That Ends Well

One that loved not wisely but too well. Othello

Our bodies are gardens, to which our wills are gardeners. Othello

Our praises are our wages; you may ride

With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs. The Winter's Tale

Our present business is general woe,

Friends of my soul you twain

Rule in this realm and the gored state sustain.

The weight of this sad time we must obey,

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

The oldest hath borne the most; we that are young

Shall never see so much, nor live so long. King Lear

Our revels now are ended,

These are actors, as I foretold you,

Were all spirits, and are melted into air,

Into thin air.

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself.

Yea, all which it inherit shall dissolve,

And like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind.

We are such stuff, as dreams are made of,

And our little life is rounded,

With a sleep. The Tempest

Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. Henry IV Part I

Plate sin with gold. King Lear

Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings. Macbeth

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. Othello

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Sonnet 18

Signor Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my money and my usances.
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For suff'rance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is my own. The Merchant of Venice

Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I'll weep what's left away, and weeping die. The Comedy of Errors

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground. Sonnet 75

So full of artless jealousy is guilt,

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. Hamlet

Something wicked this way comes. Macbeth

Sweets grown common lose their dear delight. Sonnet 102

That he is mad, 'tis true; 'tis true 'tis pity; And pity 'tis 'tis true. Hamlet

The body’s delicate, but the tempest in my mind takes all feeling. King Lear

The course of true love never did run smooth;
But either it was different in the blood -
Or else misgrafted in respect of years -
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends -
Or if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And, ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!',
The jaws of darkenss do devour it up. A Midsummer Night's Dream

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O what a goodly outside falsehood hath! The Merchant of Venice

The fashion wears out more apparel than the man. Much Ado About Nothing

The first thing we do let's kill all the lawyers. Henry VI Part 2

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself a fool. As You Like It

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. As You Like It

The fool doth think himself wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. Touchstone

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Hamlet

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact. A Midsummer Night's Dream

The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. As You Like It

The sin of my ingratitude. Macbeth

The time has been
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there, an end. But now they rise again
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools. Macbeth

The venom clamours of a jealous woman poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth. The Comedy of Errors

There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered. Othello

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet

There is nothing either good or bad, 
But thinking makes it so. Hamlet

There's small choice in rotten apples. The Taming of the Shrew

They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. The Merchant of Venice

They that touch pitch will be defiled. Much Ado About Nothing

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold and see not what they see? Sonnet 137

Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit. Romeo and Juliet

Though [he] is not naturally honest, [he] is so sometimes by chance. The Winter's Tale

Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it. Macbeth

Thy mother's name is ominous to children. Richard III

Till I have no wife I have nothing. All's Well That Ends Well

‘Tis our fast intent

To shake all cares and business from our age;

Conferring them on younger strengths, while we

Unburden's crawl toward death. King Lear

'Tis such fools as you that makes the world full of ill-favour'd children. As You Like It

To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die; to sleep;
To sleep? perchance to dream! Ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffl'd off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And make us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus consicence does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. Hamlet

To be wise and love Exceeds man's might; that dwells with the gods above. Cressida

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life's 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 and idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. Macbeth

Trifles, light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. Iago

True nobility is exempt from fear. Henry VI

Twist two extremes of passion, joy, and grief. King Lear

Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. Macbeth

We are such stuff as dreams are made on... The Tempest

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters can be truly followed. Othello

We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion. Edmund

We will have rings, and things, and fine array;
And kiss me Kate, we will be married o'Sunday. The Taming of the Shrew

Were I like thee I'd throw away myself. Timon of Athens

What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name. Henry IV Part 2

Whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise. Agamemnon

What’s done cannot be undone. Macbeth

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

When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors. Macbeth

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in batallions. Hamlet

When the age is in, the wit is out. Much Ado About Nothing

When we are born, we cry that we are come To this great stage of fools. King Lear

Where is any author in the world
Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye?
Love's Labour's Lost

When we see our betters bearing our woes,

We scarcely think our miseries our foes

Who alone suffers suffers most in the mind,

Leaving free things and happy shows behind. King Lear

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at sometime are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings...
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed
That he is grown so great? Julius Caesar

With devotion's visage and pious action we do sugar o'er the devil himself. Hamlet

You are not worth another word, else I'd call you knave. All's Well That Ends Well

You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face. King Lear

You maid of hindering knot grass. You bead! You acorn! A Midsummer Night's Dream

You prune a rotten tree that cannot so much as a blossom yield. As you Like It

You sir, are a fishmonger! Hamlet

You, mistress, That have the office opposite to Saint Peter, And keep the gate of hell! Othello

Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world,
So I might live on hour in your sweet bosom.
Richard III

Your horse would trot as well were some of your brags dismounted Henry V

Search this Web Site with

Top of Page

Contents