Some William Shakespeare quotes are known for their beauty, some Shakespeare quotes for their everyday truths and some for their wisdom.
As the most quoted English writer, Shakespeare created more than his fair share of famous quotes. We often talk about Shakespeare’s quotes as things the wise Bard is saying to us, but we should remember that some of his wisest words are spoken by his biggest fools. For example, both ‘neither a borrower nor a lender be,’ and ‘to thine own self be true’ are from the foolish, garrulous and quite disreputable Polonius in Hamlet.
Whilst it’s hard to definitively say which are the most famous Shakespeare quotes, we’ve examined polls published around the world, combined these with feedback from website users, and added our own take on Shakespeare’s words, and can now offer what we believe to be the 50 most famous Shakespeare quotes of all time (in no particular order!).
50 Of Shakespeare’s Most Famous Quotes
1. ‘To be, or not to be: that is the question’
(Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1)
2. ‘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.’
(As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7)
3. ‘Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?‘
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)
4. ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’
(Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1)
5. ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?’
(Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1)
6. ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks‘
(Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2)
7. ‘Beware the Ides of March.‘
(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)
8. ‘Get thee to a nunnery.‘
(Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1)
9. ‘If music be the food of love play on.‘
(Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1)
10. ‘What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)
11. ‘The better part of valor is discretion‘
(Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5, Scene 4)
12. ‘All that glisters is not gold.‘
(The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7)
13. ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.’
(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2)
14. ‘Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war‘
(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1)
15. ‘A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!‘
(Richard III, Act 5, Scene 4)
16. ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’
(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5)
17. ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1)
18. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.’
19. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.‘
(Henry IV, Part 2, Act 3, Scene 1)
20. ‘Brevity is the soul of wit.‘
(Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)
21. ‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle… This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.’
(Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1)
22. ‘What light through yonder window breaks.’
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)
23. ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.’
(Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5)
24. ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.’
(Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2)
25. ‘Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange.’
(The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2)
26. ‘A man can die but once.’
(Henry IV, Part 2, Act 3, Part 2)
27. ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!’
(King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4)
28. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman.’
(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 2)
29. ‘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, Act 3, Scene 1)
30. ‘I am one who loved not wisely but too well.’
(Othello, Act 5, Scene 2)
31. ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.’
(The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1)
32. ‘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 an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’
(Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)
33. ‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.’
(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3)
34. ‘Et tu, Brute?‘
(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1)
35. ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’
(Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)
36. ‘Nothing will come of nothing.’
(King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1)
37. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1)
38. ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1)
39. ‘The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’
(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)
40. ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.’
41. ‘The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones.’
(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2)
42. ‘But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.’
(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)
43. ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.’
(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3)
44. ‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’
(Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)
45. ‘Off with his head!’
(Richard III, Act 3, Scene 4)
46. ‘Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.’
(The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2)
47. ‘This is very midsummer madness.’
(Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)
48. ‘Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.’
(Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, Scene 1)
49. ‘I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.’
(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, Scene 2)
50. ‘We have seen better days.’
(Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 2)
51. ‘I am a man more sinned against than sinning.’
(King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2)
What do you think – any famous Shakespeare quotes missing from the above list? As per his own words, Shakespeare may not have been born great, but he certainly managed to achieve greatness! Let us know your favourite William Shakespeare quotes in the comments section below.
38 Shakespeare Quotes Spoken in Two Minutes
Watch students from the 2012 Shakespeare School work their way through 38 famous Shakespeare quotes in two minutes… How many of them do you know?
Shakespeare Quotes Quiz
Test your Shakespeare quotes knowledge with this great Shakespeare quote quiz from Buzzfeed – simply match the 20 Shakespeare quotes to the correct play then check out your score – novice or pro?
In school I am learning all about Shakespeare. I really like there English back then Now that I read these quotes somehow it makes me feel strong and loved inside.
Edward de vere the 17th earl of oxford
A good candidate. I trust you have seen the movie “Anonymous”? The so-called bard could barely write his own name. There are, i.e. Ben Johnson, Francis Bacon and some by committee have been mentioned. There is a great issue of ‘The Atlantic’ from the early eighties that is devoted to this subject. Probably available on line. Perhaps, the website of the magazine.
art thou be true to thy self with the selfishness put beside them.
Poetry is the best way to express one’s feelings in fewer words and poets make it easier for us because of their poetry.
Look love night’s candles have burnt out and jocund day stands tiptoe on the mountaintop
(This should be added to the list!)
“To dream of not completing or dropping out of high school may reflect feelings about not having done enough to achieve power or status. Feeling that you didn’t try hard enough to achieve your goals. Feeling that you surrendered or gave on an accomplishment you cared a lot about. Feeling like a loser for not having tried hard enough at something important to you.”
THIS!!!!! This is exactly how I feel every waking moment of my life.
Alas poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio
(you fools, you didn’t listen)
My bounty is a boundless as the sea
The best intentions pave the way to hell.
I am learning about Shakespeare in drama and my favorite quote is ‘to be or not to be that is the question.’
“Alas, poor Yorick”, and “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”