William Shakespeare, Hamlet
51 quotes
"A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear."
"Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; Where little fears grow great, great love grows there."
"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 heart-ache 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."
"Where is Polonius? HAMLET In heaven. Send hither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But if indeed you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby."
"Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,And therefore I forbid my tears."
"And will 'a not come again? And will 'a not come again? No, no, he is dead, Go to thy death bed: He will never come again."
"Remember thee? Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seatin this distracted globe. Remember thee?"
"There are more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of by your philosophy."
"There is more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of by your philosophy."
"O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else?And shall I couple Hell?"
"I could a tale unfold whose lightest wordWould harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,Thy knotted and combined locks to part,And each particular hair to stand on endLike quills upon the fretful porpentine.But this eternal blazon must not beTo ears of flesh and blood.List, list, O list!"
"Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core, in my heart of heart, as I do thee."
"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;But do not dull thy palm with entertainmentOf each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade."
"For some must watch, while some must sleep So runs the world away"
"The Devil hath powerTo assume a pleasing shape."
"- Where is Polonius?- In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself."
"Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?"
"My liege, and madam, to expostulateWhat majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time,Were nothing but to waste night, day and time.Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,I will be brief."
"Refrain to-night;And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence, the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either master the devil or throw him outWith wondrous potency."
"Lord Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. Lord Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? Hamlet: Between who? Lord Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord."
"The native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; and enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard, their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action."
"Seems," madam? Nay, it is; I know not "seems."'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly: these indeed seem, For they are actions that a man might play: But I have that within which passeth show; These but the trappings and the suits of woe."
"Do not forever with thy vailed lidsSeek for thy noble father in the dust.Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,Passing though nature to eternity."
"Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a specialprovidence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will benow; if it be not now, yet it will come: thereadiness is all."
"I must be cruel only to be kind;Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind."