William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.
His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Shakespeare’s works have been continually adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain popular and are studied, performed, and reinterpreted through various cultural and political contexts around the world.
Some of the best quotes from William Shakespeare are listed below.
- “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare
- “A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still gently allows you to grow.” – William Shakespeare
- “Action is eloquence.” – William Shakespeare
- “All that glitters is not gold.” – William Shakespeare
- “All the worlds 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.” – William Shakespeare
- “Always the wrong person gives you the right lesson in life.” – William Shakespeare
- “Be great in act, as you have been in thought.” – William Shakespeare
- “Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.” – William Shakespeare
- “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – William Shakespeare
- “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – William Shakespeare
- “But love is blind, and lovers cannot see.” – William Shakespeare
- “Certain, men should be what they seem.” – William Shakespeare
- “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” – William Shakespeare
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” – William Shakespeare
- “Don’t waste your love on somebody who doesn’t value it.” – William Shakespeare
- “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare
- “Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer’d.” – William Shakespeare
- “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” – William Shakespeare
- “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare
- “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare
- “Have more than you show, speak less than you know.” – William Shakespeare
- “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – William Shakespeare
- “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.” – William Shakespeare
- “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” – William Shakespeare
- “I always feel happy, you know why? Because I don’t expect anything from anyone, expectations always hurt. Life is short, so love your life, be happy and keep smiling.” – William Shakespeare
- “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” – William Shakespeare
- “If money go before, all ways do lie open.” – William Shakespeare
- “If to do were as easy to know what were good to do.” – William Shakespeare
- “If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.” – William Shakespeare
- “In time we hate that which we often fear.” – William Shakespeare
- “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare
- “It’s not enough to speak, but to speak true.” – William Shakespeare
- “Just live for yourself and before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you pray, forgive. Before you hurt, feel. Before you hate, love. Before you quit, try. Before you die, live.” – William Shakespeare
- “Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” – William Shakespeare
- “Let life be short; else shame will be too long.” – William Shakespeare
- “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.” – William Shakespeare
- “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end.” – William Shakespeare
- “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare
- “Love cometh like sunshine after rain.” – William Shakespeare
- “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.” – William Shakespeare
- “Love me or hate me, both are in my favor, if you love me, I’ll always be in your heart, if you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.” – William Shakespeare
- “Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better.” – William Shakespeare
- “Make not your thoughts your prisons.” – William Shakespeare
- “Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – William Shakespeare
- “Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – William Shakespeare
- “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” – William Shakespeare
- “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
- “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” – William Shakespeare
- “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” – William Shakespeare
- “Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare
- “Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.” – William Shakespeare
- “Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.” – William Shakespeare
- “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
- “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – William Shakespeare
- “Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” – William Shakespeare
- “Strong reasons make strong actions.” – William Shakespeare
- “Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.” – William Shakespeare
- “Teach me how I should forget to think.” – William Shakespeare
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – William Shakespeare
- “The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.” – William Shakespeare
- “The eyes are the window to your soul.” – William Shakespeare
- “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – William Shakespeare
- “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – William Shakespeare
- “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – William Shakespeare
- “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare
- “They do not love that do not show their love.” – William Shakespeare
- “Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.” – William Shakespeare
- “Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” – William Shakespeare
- “This above all: to thine ownself be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” – William Shakespeare
- “Time is very slow for those who wait. Very fast for those who are scared. Very long for those who celebrate. But for those who love, time is eternal.” – William Shakespeare
- “Time travels in diverse paces with diverse persons. I’ll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.” – William Shakespeare
- “To do a great right do a little wrong.” – William Shakespeare
- “To thine own self be true.” – William Shakespeare
- “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – William Shakespeare
- “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – William Shakespeare
- “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare
- “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” – William Shakespeare
- “Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.” – William Shakespeare
