William Shakespeare Quotes

O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook: most dangerous
Is read more

O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook: most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue.

I am not in the roll of common men. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 1.

I am not in the roll of common men. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere. -Twelfth Night. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere. -Twelfth Night. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can read more

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
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There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set read more

Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I 'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism. -King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1.

Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. -Twelfth Night. Act v. Sc. 1.

Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. -Twelfth Night. Act v. Sc. 1.

Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools. -As You Like It. Act read more

Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools. -As You Like It. Act v. Sc. 4.

I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola. -As You Like It. Act iv. Sc. 1.

I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola. -As You Like It. Act iv. Sc. 1.

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot; This sensible read more

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world. -Measure for Measure. Act iii. Sc. 1.