Great Quotes From the Bard of Stratford-Upon-Avon

On this day in 1564, William Shakespeare, the greatest English writer in history, was born. His words lived on until many of them became the most recognized phrases in the English language, while the greatest actors and producers still long to portray his characters on the screen or on stage.

Shakespeare, the son of a tradesman/bailiff, did not receive a university education, and he was reportedly once arrested for poaching (a story America’s own Washington Irving delighted in relating). Elitists of both our day and his day looked down upon him. But the undereducated tradesman’s son was such a genius that he became one of the, if not the, most quoted author in the English language, and justly so; his characters leap forth from the printed page as living, breathing creations, each unique and unforgettable, more startlingly real to us now as to his audiences hundreds of years ago than many an actual historical figure. If all the world’s a stage, Shakespeare was the consummate director and performer.

And indeed, part of Shakespeare’s enduring appeal is not only his brilliance but his ability to see beyond the prejudices and stereotypes of his own time. Some of his most intelligent characters are women, one of his greatest tragic heroes is an African, and he knew that Jews and Christians have all the same members and affections. He wrote plays during the harsh anti-Catholic persecutions of Elizabeth I, yet many of his plays are thoroughly Catholic. He wrote about monarchs and emperors, yet he always portrayed the perspective of the common man and affirmed that the king is but a man, as any ordinary soldier. 

Below are some of the wittiest and wisest quotes from the great Shakespeare:

“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

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition: / And gentlemen in England now a-bed / Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, / And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks / That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” —Henry V

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” —Twelfth Night

“The quality of mercy is not strained; / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. / Upon the place beneath.” —The Merchant of Venice

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day…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

 “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” —Romeo and Juliet

“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

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” —Julius Caesar

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” —Hamlet

 “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” —A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“Eternity was in our lips and in our eyes.” —Antony and Cleopatra

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” —The Merchant of Venice

 “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” —The Tempest

“Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.” —Much Ado About Nothing

“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” —Julius Caesar

At Shakespeare’s childhood home in Stratford and at the Globe Theater in London pic.twitter.com/Ii0vtY0oiR

— Catherine Salgado (@CatSalgado32) April 23, 2025

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“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.” —Much Ado About Nothing

“Nothing will come of nothing.” —King Lear

“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” —Richard III

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” —A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving.” —Othello

Happy birthday, William Shakespeare!