75 Shakespeare Quotes on Love, Death, Life & Time — Every Play & Sonnet
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor who is universally regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon to a glove-maker, he wrote approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and several longer poems. He invented over 1,700 English words -- including "eyeball," "assassination," "lonely," and "generous" -- and his plays have been translated into every major language and performed more often than those of any other playwright. Remarkably little is known about his personal life, fueling centuries of speculation and conspiracy theories about the authorship of his works.
Around 1600, at the height of his creative powers, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, a play that transformed Western literature and the very concept of what it means to be human. The character of Hamlet -- a young prince consumed by grief, indecision, and philosophical doubt -- was unlike anything audiences had ever encountered: a literary figure who seemed to possess an inner life as complex and contradictory as any real person. The play was an immediate sensation at the Globe Theatre, and its influence has only grown over four centuries. "To be or not to be" became the most famous question in English; the play has generated more commentary, more performances, and more adaptations than any other work of literature. But Shakespeare's genius extended far beyond a single play. As he wrote in As You Like It: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." That metaphor -- life as theater, identity as performance -- has become so deeply embedded in Western consciousness that we can hardly think about human existence without it. If you enjoy literary wisdom, explore more from Paulo Coelho, C.S. Lewis, and Dr. Seuss.
Who Was William Shakespeare?
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Born | c. April 23, 1564 |
| Died | April 23, 1616 (age 52) |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Playwright, Poet, Actor |
| Known For | Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, 39 plays, 154 sonnets |
Key Achievements and Episodes
The Globe Theatre: A Stage for All Humanity
In 1599, Shakespeare and his acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, built the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames in London using timbers from their old theater, which they had dismantled overnight in a dispute with their landlord. The open-air playhouse held up to 3,000 spectators, from groundlings paying a penny to stand in the yard to wealthy patrons in the galleries. The Globe became the stage where Shakespeare premiered many of his greatest works, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. It burned down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII.
Inventing 1,700 Words Still Used Today
Shakespeare contributed more than 1,700 words to the English language, including "eyeball," "assassination," "lonely," "generous," "obscene," "bedroom," and "uncomfortable." He also coined phrases that remain in daily use four centuries later: "break the ice," "wild-goose chase," "heart of gold," "in a pickle," and "the world is my oyster." His linguistic inventiveness was not mere wordplay but reflected a profound understanding of how language shapes thought. The Oxford English Dictionary credits Shakespeare with more new word introductions than any other individual in English literary history.
Shakespeare Quotes About Love from Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet remains the most famous love story ever written. Shakespeare composed it around 1594-1596, drawing on an Italian tale but transforming it into something timeless. The play's love quotes are searched thousands of times every month because they capture what it feels like to fall in love recklessly, completely, and against all reason. Every line from the balcony scene has entered our shared vocabulary of romance. For more on love and human connection, see Oscar Wilde's quotes.
"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
"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5
"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
"These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 6
"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3
Shakespeare Quotes About Love from Other Plays and Sonnets
Shakespeare explored love with a complexity no writer before or since has equaled -- encompassing the delirious rapture of Romeo and Juliet, the jealous obsession of Othello, the maternal ferocity of Volumnia, and the gentle friendship of Viola. His sonnets, especially Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 116, remain the most quoted love poems in the English language. He understood that love is never a single emotion but a whole climate of feeling, capable of transforming a person or destroying them.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
Sonnet 18
"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixed mark."
Sonnet 116
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; coral is far more red than her lips' red."
Sonnet 130
"The course of true love never did run smooth."
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1
"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
All's Well That Ends Well, Act 1, Scene 1
"Though she be but little, she is fierce."
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2
"If music be the food of love, play on."
Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1
"Journeys end in lovers meeting, every wise man's son doth know."
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3
"Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?"
As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5
"Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love."
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
"Then let not winter's ragged hand deface in thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled."
Sonnet 6
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
Sonnet 18
"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, men were deceivers ever."
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Hamlet Quotes: To Be or Not to Be and Beyond
Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and the most quoted work in the English language. Prince Hamlet's soliloquies -- especially the famous "to be or not to be" speech in Act 3 -- wrestle with mortality, indecision, grief, and the meaning of existence itself. The full "to be or not to be" soliloquy runs 35 lines and asks whether it is nobler to endure suffering or to take action against it, even if that action is death. Below are the most important Hamlet quotes with their exact citations.
"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."
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1
"This above all: to thine own self be true."
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."
Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5
"Brevity is the soul of wit."
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
"The rest is silence."
Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2
"Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2
"Frailty, thy name is woman!"
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2
Macbeth Quotes: Tomorrow Speech and Ambition
Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest and most intense tragedy, written around 1606. The play follows a Scottish general who murders the king to seize the throne, only to be consumed by guilt and paranoia. The famous "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech -- Macbeth's response upon learning of his wife's death in Act 5 -- is one of the bleakest passages in all literature. It reduces human existence to "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene and the "out, damned spot" line are equally iconic.
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1
"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1
"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't."
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5
"What's done cannot be undone."
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1
"Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires."
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4
Famous Shakespeare Quotes from The Tempest
The Tempest (c. 1610-1611) is widely believed to be the last play Shakespeare wrote alone. The sorcerer Prospero, stranded on an island with his daughter Miranda, uses magic to orchestrate a reckoning with the men who wronged him. Many scholars read the play as Shakespeare's farewell to the stage -- Prospero's final speech, in which he breaks his staff and drowns his book, is often interpreted as the playwright laying down his pen. The play's quotes about wonder, forgiveness, and the nature of reality are among Shakespeare's most beautiful.
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1
"O brave new world, that has such people in't!"
The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2
"What's past is prologue."
The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1
"Now my charms are all o'erthrown, and what strength I have's mine own, which is most faint."
The Tempest, Epilogue
Shakespeare Quotes on Fate, Identity, and the Human Condition
Shakespeare returned obsessively to the question of whether human beings are the authors of their own fate or merely passengers in a drama they did not write. Hamlet's tormented indecision, Cassius's insistence that we make our own destiny, and Prospero's magical orchestration of events all explore different answers to the same question. His observation that "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" anticipates modern cognitive psychology by four centuries. For a different perspective on fate and human identity, read Leonardo da Vinci's quotes.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts."
As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7
"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2
"Nothing will come of nothing."
King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1
Shakespeare Quotes About Time and Mortality
No writer has explored the passage of time and the approach of death more powerfully than Shakespeare. His sonnets obsessively chart the ravages of time on beauty and youth, while his tragedies confront death in every possible form -- sudden, slow, noble, meaningless, feared, and welcomed. The sonnets argue that only love and poetry can defeat time; the plays suggest that nothing can. Together they form the most complete meditation on mortality in Western literature.
"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end."
Sonnet 60
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day."
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."
Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2
"When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night."
Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!"
King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4
"Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust."
Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2
"That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold."
Sonnet 73
Shakespeare Quotes on Courage, Honesty, and Virtue
Shakespeare's moral universe was not a simple one of heroes and villains, but it did contain an unwavering conviction that cowardice, dishonesty, and smallness of spirit were failures of existence itself. Caesar's meditation on cowards dying many times was written for an audience that knew the terror of real violence. The Globe Theatre stood in a world of plague, public executions, and religious persecution, and its audiences understood that the question of whether to act with courage was not academic.
"No legacy is so rich as honesty."
All's Well That Ends Well, Act 3, Scene 5
"All that glitters is not gold."
The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7
"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Scene 2
"The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath."
The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1
"Have more than you show, speak less than you know."
King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4
"It is a wise father that knows his own child."
The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2
Shakespeare Quotes from Othello and King Lear
Othello (c. 1603) and King Lear (c. 1605-1606) are among Shakespeare's most devastating tragedies. Othello explores jealousy as a poison that destroys even the strongest love, while King Lear confronts aging, ingratitude, madness, and the terrible cost of mistaking flattery for truth. Lear's howl on the heath and Othello's final speech before his death are moments of raw, almost unbearable emotional power.
"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."
Othello, Act 3, Scene 3
"Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed."
Othello, Act 3, Scene 3
"I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss."
Othello, Act 5, Scene 2
"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!"
King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2
"When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools."
King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6
"The worst is not, so long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'"
King Lear, Act 4, Scene 1
Shakespeare Quotes from the History Plays and Comedies
Shakespeare's history plays -- especially the Henry IV and Henry V cycle -- and his comedies are treasure troves of wit, political insight, and pure linguistic pleasure. Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech before the Battle of Agincourt is one of the great rallying cries in literature. Meanwhile, his comedies like Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice contain some of his sharpest observations on human folly, friendship, and the absurdity of social convention.
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."
Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; or close the wall up with our English dead."
Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1
"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York."
Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1
"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
Richard III, Act 5, Scene 4
"If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear."
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1
"The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."
Often attributed to Shakespeare (likely Oscar Wilde)
"Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar."
Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
Henry IV Part 2, Act 3, Scene 1
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."
As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 1
"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."
Richard II, Act 5, Scene 5
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Shakespeare quotes about love from Romeo and Juliet?
The most famous Shakespeare love quotes from Romeo and Juliet include "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Act 2, Scene 2), "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep" (Act 2, Scene 2), "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow" (Act 2, Scene 2), and "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" (Act 1, Scene 5). The balcony scene in Act 2 alone contains more famous love lines than most entire plays. Juliet's speech about the boundlessness of love and Romeo's first-sight declaration remain the touchstones of romantic literature in English.
What is the full "to be or not to be" quote and what does it mean?
The full opening of Hamlet's soliloquy from Act 3, Scene 1 reads: "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 heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to." The speech continues for about 35 lines. Hamlet is weighing whether it is better to endure life's suffering passively or to act against it -- with the ultimate "action" being death itself. He concludes that the fear of the unknown after death ("the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns") makes people choose to endure their current suffering rather than risk something worse. It is the most analyzed passage in all of English literature.
What does the Macbeth "tomorrow" speech mean?
The "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech appears in Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5. Macbeth delivers it upon hearing that Lady Macbeth has died. The full passage reads: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." The speech expresses total nihilism and despair -- Macbeth sees life as meaningless, repetitive, and ultimately absurd. The theatrical metaphor ("a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage") is particularly powerful because Shakespeare is using his own art form to question whether any human action has meaning. William Faulkner took the title of his novel "The Sound and the Fury" from this speech.
What are Shakespeare's best quotes about time and mortality?
Shakespeare wrote extensively about the passage of time and the certainty of death. His most powerful time-and-mortality quotes include: "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end" (Sonnet 60), "That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang" (Sonnet 73), "Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust" (Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2), "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me" (Richard II, Act 5, Scene 5), and "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee" (Sonnet 18). In the sonnets, Shakespeare argues that poetry is the only weapon against time -- that a poem can preserve beauty and love even after the body decays.
What are the most famous Shakespeare quotes from The Tempest?
The Tempest contains some of Shakespeare's most beautiful and philosophical lines. The most famous include: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep" (Act 4, Scene 1), "O brave new world, that has such people in't!" (Act 5, Scene 1 -- Aldous Huxley took his novel's title from this line), "Hell is empty and all the devils are here" (Act 1, Scene 2), and "What's past is prologue" (Act 2, Scene 1). The Tempest is thought to be Shakespeare's last solo-written play, and many scholars read Prospero's farewell speech -- "Now my charms are all o'erthrown" -- as Shakespeare himself saying goodbye to the theater.
Shakespeare's works continue to shape how we think about love, power, jealousy, ambition, and mortality. His language has seeped so deeply into English that we quote him daily without knowing it. For more literary and artistic wisdom, explore our collections of quotes from Oscar Wilde, Leonardo da Vinci, Paulo Coelho, C.S. Lewis, and Dr. Seuss.