Here are 30 William Shakespeare Quotes of Wisdom and Art, along with the appropriate sources and time period they were recorded:
- “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1
- “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7
- “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1
- “The course of true love never did run smooth.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” – Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2
- “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “The better part of valor is discretion.” – Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5, Scene 4
- “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5
- “Brevity is the soul of wit.” – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3
- “Now is the winter of our discontent.” – Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1
- “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2
- “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1
- “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” – The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1
- “Et tu, Brute?” – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1
- “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Out, out brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow.” – Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
- “All that glitters is not gold.” – The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7
- “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” – Henry IV, Part 2, Act 3, Scene 1
- “Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
- “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” – Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2
- “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” – Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3
- “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5
- “When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” – King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6″Men at some time are masters of their fates.” – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2
- “Men at some time are masters of their fates.” – Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2