William Shakespeare was born on April 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom. He was a well-known English poet, writer, actor, and playwright. He was considered the greatest dramatist in history. He also authored approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and several long narrative poems, blending romance, history, and tragedy to redefine Western literature. May these famous William Shakespeare quotes about life offer you insights to help you achieve a smooth sailing life's journey.
1. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare
2. “When we are born, we cry that we come to this great stage of fools.” – William Shakespeare
3. “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare
4. “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.” – William Shakespeare
5. “Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.” – William Shakespeare
6. “I wish my horse had the speed of your tongue.” – William Shakespeare
7. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” – William Shakespeare
8. “I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.” – William Shakespeare
9. “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?” – William Shakespeare
-min.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by William Shakespeare")
10. “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” – William Shakespeare
11. “Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.” – William Shakespeare
12. “Fishes live in the sea, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.” – William Shakespeare
13. “Speak low, if you speak love.” – William Shakespeare
14. “O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” – William Shakespeare
-min.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by William Shakespeare")
15. “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – William Shakespeare
16. “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – William Shakespeare
17. “The object of Art is to give life a shape.” – William Shakespeare
18. “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” – William Shakespeare
19. “The expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare
-min.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by William Shakespeare")
20. “Love is the greatest of dreams, yet the worst of nightmares.” – William Shakespeare
21. “All's well if all ends well.” – William Shakespeare
22. “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” – William Shakespeare
23. “Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.” – William Shakespeare
24. “A young woman in love always looks like patience on a monument smiling at grief.” – William Shakespeare
-min.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by William Shakespeare")
25. “What's done cannot be undone.” – William Shakespeare
26. “People’s good deeds we write in water. The evil deeds are etched in brass.” – William Shakespeare
27. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – William Shakespeare
28. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
29. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – William Shakespeare
.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by William Shakespeare")
30. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – William Shakespeare
More William Shakespeare Popular Quotes and Sayings
31. “I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” – William Shakespeare
32. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.” – William Shakespeare
33. “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – William Shakespeare
34. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – William Shakespeare
35. “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
36. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare
37. “Time is very slow for those who wait, Very fast for those who are scared, Very long for those who lament, Very short for those who celebrate, But for those who love, time is eternal.” – William Shakespeare
38. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare
39. “If you love and get hurt, love more. If you love more and hurt more, love even more. If you love even more and get hurt, even more, love some more until it hurts no more.” – William Shakespeare
40. “Nothing will come of nothing; we must dare mighty things.” – William Shakespeare
41. “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare
42. “A light heart lives long.” – William Shakespeare
43. “Neither a borrower nor a lender is: For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” – William Shakespeare
44. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.” – William Shakespeare
45. “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – William Shakespeare
46. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare
47. “It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions.” – William Shakespeare
48. “There are three people in yourself: Who people think you are, Who you think you are, and who you really are.” – William Shakespeare
49. “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” – William Shakespeare
50. “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” – William Shakespeare
51. “Don't waste your love on somebody, who doesn't value it.” – William Shakespeare
52. “To weep is to make less the depth of grief.” – William Shakespeare
53. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – William Shakespeare
54. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” – William Shakespeare
55. “Listen to many, speak to a few.” – William Shakespeare
56. “So wise so young, they say, do never live long.” – William Shakespeare
57. “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.” – William Shakespeare
58. “Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. Then your love would also change.” – William Shakespeare
59. “Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.” – William Shakespeare
60. “If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.” – William Shakespeare
61. “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” – William Shakespeare
62. “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.” – William Shakespeare
63. “Love is too young to know what conscience is.” – William Shakespeare
64. “Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.” – William Shakespeare
65. “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake.” – William Shakespeare
66. “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare
67. “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” – William Shakespeare
68. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
69. “What's past is prologue.” – William Shakespeare
70. “Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.” – William Shakespeare
71. “I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself.” – William Shakespeare
72. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – William Shakespeare
73. “The better part of valour is discretion.” – William Shakespeare
74. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – William Shakespeare
75. “But love is blind, and lovers cannot see.” – William Shakespeare
76. “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
77. “If music be the food of love, play on.” – William Shakespeare
78. “Jealousy is the green-eyed monster.” – William Shakespeare
79. “If I be waspish, best beware of my sting.” – William Shakespeare
80. “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” – William Shakespeare
81. “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare
82. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – William Shakespeare
83. “How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!” – William Shakespeare
84. “This day I breathed first: time is come round, And where I did begin there shall I end; My life is run his compass.” – William Shakespeare
85. “Good company, good wine, good welcome can make good people.” – William Shakespeare
86. “It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.” – William Shakespeare
87. “The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.” – William Shakespeare
88. “Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin’s fee.” – William Shakespeare
89. “O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.” – William Shakespeare
90. “O gentlemen, the time of life is short! To spend that shortness basely were too long, If life did ride upon a dial’s point, Still ending at the arrival of an hour.” – William Shakespeare
91. “Diseased Nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions.” – William Shakespeare
92. “The sands are number’d that make up my life; Here must I stay, and here my life must end.” – William Shakespeare
93. “The spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries, and the mazèd world By their increase now knows not which is which.” – William Shakespeare
94. “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant, There’s nothing serious in mortality: All is but toys; renown, and grace is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of.” – William Shakespeare
95. “Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy, For the apparel oft proclaims the man.” – William Shakespeare
96. “And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale.” – William Shakespeare
Share these Most Famous William Shakespeare Lines and Quotes with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.
2. “When we are born, we cry that we come to this great stage of fools.” – William Shakespeare
3. “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare
4. “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.” – William Shakespeare
5. “Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.” – William Shakespeare
6. “I wish my horse had the speed of your tongue.” – William Shakespeare
7. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” – William Shakespeare
8. “I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.” – William Shakespeare
9. “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?” – William Shakespeare
11. “Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.” – William Shakespeare
12. “Fishes live in the sea, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.” – William Shakespeare
13. “Speak low, if you speak love.” – William Shakespeare
14. “O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” – William Shakespeare
16. “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” – William Shakespeare
17. “The object of Art is to give life a shape.” – William Shakespeare
18. “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” – William Shakespeare
19. “The expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare
21. “All's well if all ends well.” – William Shakespeare
22. “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” – William Shakespeare
23. “Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.” – William Shakespeare
24. “A young woman in love always looks like patience on a monument smiling at grief.” – William Shakespeare
26. “People’s good deeds we write in water. The evil deeds are etched in brass.” – William Shakespeare
27. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – William Shakespeare
28. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare
29. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” – William Shakespeare
More William Shakespeare Popular Quotes and Sayings
31. “I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” – William Shakespeare
32. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.” – William Shakespeare
33. “It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – William Shakespeare
34. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – William Shakespeare
35. “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
36. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare
37. “Time is very slow for those who wait, Very fast for those who are scared, Very long for those who lament, Very short for those who celebrate, But for those who love, time is eternal.” – William Shakespeare
38. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare
39. “If you love and get hurt, love more. If you love more and hurt more, love even more. If you love even more and get hurt, even more, love some more until it hurts no more.” – William Shakespeare
40. “Nothing will come of nothing; we must dare mighty things.” – William Shakespeare
41. “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare
42. “A light heart lives long.” – William Shakespeare
43. “Neither a borrower nor a lender is: For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” – William Shakespeare
44. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.” – William Shakespeare
45. “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – William Shakespeare
46. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare
47. “It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions.” – William Shakespeare
48. “There are three people in yourself: Who people think you are, Who you think you are, and who you really are.” – William Shakespeare
49. “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” – William Shakespeare
50. “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.” – William Shakespeare
51. “Don't waste your love on somebody, who doesn't value it.” – William Shakespeare
52. “To weep is to make less the depth of grief.” – William Shakespeare
53. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” – William Shakespeare
54. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” – William Shakespeare
55. “Listen to many, speak to a few.” – William Shakespeare
56. “So wise so young, they say, do never live long.” – William Shakespeare
57. “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.” – William Shakespeare
58. “Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. Then your love would also change.” – William Shakespeare
59. “Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.” – William Shakespeare
60. “If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.” – William Shakespeare
61. “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” – William Shakespeare
62. “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.” – William Shakespeare
63. “Love is too young to know what conscience is.” – William Shakespeare
64. “Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.” – William Shakespeare
65. “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake.” – William Shakespeare
66. “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare
67. “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” – William Shakespeare
68. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
69. “What's past is prologue.” – William Shakespeare
70. “Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.” – William Shakespeare
71. “I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself.” – William Shakespeare
72. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – William Shakespeare
73. “The better part of valour is discretion.” – William Shakespeare
74. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – William Shakespeare
75. “But love is blind, and lovers cannot see.” – William Shakespeare
76. “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
77. “If music be the food of love, play on.” – William Shakespeare
78. “Jealousy is the green-eyed monster.” – William Shakespeare
79. “If I be waspish, best beware of my sting.” – William Shakespeare
80. “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” – William Shakespeare
81. “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare
82. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” – William Shakespeare
83. “How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!” – William Shakespeare
84. “This day I breathed first: time is come round, And where I did begin there shall I end; My life is run his compass.” – William Shakespeare
85. “Good company, good wine, good welcome can make good people.” – William Shakespeare
86. “It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.” – William Shakespeare
87. “The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.” – William Shakespeare
88. “Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin’s fee.” – William Shakespeare
89. “O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.” – William Shakespeare
90. “O gentlemen, the time of life is short! To spend that shortness basely were too long, If life did ride upon a dial’s point, Still ending at the arrival of an hour.” – William Shakespeare
91. “Diseased Nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions.” – William Shakespeare
92. “The sands are number’d that make up my life; Here must I stay, and here my life must end.” – William Shakespeare
93. “The spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries, and the mazèd world By their increase now knows not which is which.” – William Shakespeare
94. “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant, There’s nothing serious in mortality: All is but toys; renown, and grace is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of.” – William Shakespeare
95. “Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy, For the apparel oft proclaims the man.” – William Shakespeare
96. “And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale.” – William Shakespeare
Share these Most Famous William Shakespeare Lines and Quotes with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.