Everyday Shakespeare - Shakespeare Quotes

Are you a Shakespeare fan who enjoys Shakespeare quotes? I am. I taught the Bard for years as a part of British Literature. If you haven’t read a lot of Shakespeare, you might not be familiar with many of the famous quotations from his plays, although several of them have become part of everyday language. For example, “All the glitters is not gold.” I’m sure you’ve heard that many times, but did you know it came from The Merchant of Venice? We’ve taken some of Shakespeare’s quotes and tweaked them a little. For example, our modern saying, “The world’s my oyster,” is based on a line from The Merry Wives of Windsor: “Why then the world’s mine oyster.”

Following are some of Shakespeare’s most popular and often used quotes. Heck, you’re probably quoting Shakespeare all the time without even knowing it! See how many of these Shakespeare quotes you recognize:

“To be, or not to be: That is the question.” Hamlet

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Romeo and Juliet

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Hamlet

“Out, damn’d spot!” Macbeth

“All that glitters is not gold.” The Merchant of Venice

“O, woe is me…” Hamlet

“Now is the winter of our discontent.” King Richard III

“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him…” Hamlet

“Off with his head!” King Richard III

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” Hamlet

“Why then the world’s mine oyster…” The Merry Wives of Windsor

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

“All the world’s a stage…” As You Like It

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Hamlet

“What’s in a name?” Romeo and Juliet

“…such stuff as dreams are made on.” The Tempest

“The game’s up.” Cymbeline

“Et tu, Brute?” Julius Caesar

“A plague o’ both your houses!” Romeo and Juliet

“Get thee to a nunn’ry…” Hamlet

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” King Richard III

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!” Macbeth

“I am constant as the northern star…” Julius Caesar

“It is the green-ey’d monster…” Othello

“…the most unkindest cut of all.” Julius Caesar

“I will wear my heart upon my sleeve…” Othello

“…it was Greek to me.” Julius Caesar

“I have not slept one wink.” Cymbeline

“What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.” Measure for Measure

“…to thine own self be true.” Hamlet

“We have seen better days.” Timon of Athens

“For ever and a day.” As You Like It

“…love is blind…” Merchant of Venice

“My salad days…” Antony and Cleopatra

“…give the devil his due.” King Henry IV, Part I

“The better part of valour is discretion.” King Henry IV, Part I

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” King Henry IV, Part II

“..eaten me out of house and home.” King Henry IV, Part II

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” King Henry VI, Part II

“…let slip the dogs of war.” Julius Caesar

“What’s done is done.” Macbeth

“Out of the jaws of death.” Taming of the Shrew