Quotes by William Shakespeare

Doubt thou the stars are fire Doubt thou the sun doth moveDoubt truth to be a liar But never doubt I love

Our doubts are traitors, and make us loose the good that we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be!

His jest shall savour but a shallow wit, when thousands more weep than did laugh it.

To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!I dare damnation

At this hourLie at my mercy all mine enemies.

Hot from hell. Caesars spirit raging in revenge. Cry,havoc! And let slip the dogs of war.

Ill find a day to massacre them allAnd raze their faction and their family,The cruel father and his traitorous sons,To whom I sued for my dear sons life,And make them know what tis to let a queenKneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain.

Thou calledst me a dog before thou hadst a cause,But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.

But virtue, as it never will be moved,Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,Will sate itself in a celestial bedAnd prey on garbage.

When the devout religion of mine eyeMaintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires,And these, who, often drowned, could never die,Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars!One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sunNeer saw her match since first the world begun.

The single and peculiar mind is boundWith all the strength and armor of the mindTo keep itself from noyance, but much moreThat spirit upon whose weal depends and restsThe lives of many. The cess of majestyDies not alone, but like a gulf doth drawWhats near it with it; or it is a massy wheelFixed on the summit of the highest mount,To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser thingsAre mortised and adjoined, which, when it falls,Each small annexment, petty consequence,Attends the boistrous ruin. Never aloneDid the king sigh, but with a general groan.

Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.— Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love Accompany your hearts!

The native hue of resolution is sicklied oer 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.

LEAR: ...yet you see how this world goes.GLOS.: I see it feelingly.

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.

To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, theres the rub,For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...

More are mens ends marked than their lives before.The setting sun, the music at the close,As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,Writ in remembrance more than things long past.

We defy augury. There is special providence inthe fall of a sparrow. If it be now, tis not to come; if it be not tocome, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—thereadiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what istto leave betimes, let be. (Hamlet 5.2.217-224)