Shakespearean Wisdom: Quotes about Life

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. – As You Like It

What’s past is prologue. – The Tempest

To thine own self be true. – Hamlet

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. – All’s Well That Ends Well

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. – Hamlet

To sleep, perchance to dream. – Hamlet

Hell is empty and all the devils are here. – The Tempest

If music be the food of love, play on. – Twelfth Night

The course of true love never did run smooth. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

What’s done cannot be undone. – Macbeth

Though she be but little, she is fierce. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This above all: to thine own self be true. – Hamlet

The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. – Hamlet

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

Love is blind and lovers cannot see. – The Merchant of Venice

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

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. – Twelfth Night

Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have immortal longings in me. – Antony and Cleopatra

All that glitters is not gold. – The Merchant of Venice

Parting is such sweet sorrow. – Romeo and Juliet

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. – Measure for Measure

Words without thoughts never to heaven go. – Hamlet

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer’d. – Cymbeline

For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. – Hamlet

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. – Julius Caesar

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

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child! – King Lear

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. – All’s Well That Ends Well

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

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. – Twelfth Night

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. – Measure for Measure

The miserable have no other medicine but only hope. – Measure for Measure

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. – Romeo and Juliet

Time and the hour run through the roughest day. – Macbeth

They do not love that do not show their love. – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. – Twelfth Night

Each goodly thing is hardest to begin. – Titus Andronicus

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

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, which we ascribe to heaven. – All’s Well That Ends Well

I wasted time, and now time doth waste me. – Richard II

When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain. – Richard II

Give it an understanding, but no tongue. – All’s Well That Ends Well

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. – Measure for Measure

The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness. – Romeo and Juliet

This is the short and the long of it. – The Merry Wives of Windsor

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage. – Macbeth

No legacy is so rich as honesty. – All’s Well That Ends Well

Expectation is the root of all heartache. – Romeo and Juliet

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. – Julius Caesar