The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Betrayal3 quotes
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. — William Shakespeare · 1599Trust not him that hath once broken faith. — William Shakespeare · 1595Et tu, Brutè? — William Shakespeare · 1599Courage3 quotes
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once. — William Shakespeare · 1599The better part of valor is discretion. — William Shakespeare · 1597For courage mounteth with occasion. — William Shakespeare · 1616Yin and yang3 quotes
Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud,
And after summer evermore succeeds
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold;
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet. — William Shakespeare · 1594There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distill it out. — William Shakespeare · 1599No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. — William Shakespeare · 1597Ambition2 quotes
Virtue is choked with foul ambition. — William Shakespeare · 1594Lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But, when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. — William Shakespeare · 1599Conscience2 quotes
I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience. — William Shakespeare · 1613Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer. — William Shakespeare · 1595Crying2 quotes
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. — William Shakespeare · 1599To weep is to make less the depth of grief. — William Shakespeare · 1595England2 quotes
There lives not three good men unhanged in England, and one of them is fat and grows old. — William Shakespeare · 1597This England never did nor never shall
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. — William Shakespeare · 1616Fate2 quotes
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. — William Shakespeare · 1599What Fates impose, that men must needs abide;
It boots not to resist both wind and tide. — William Shakespeare · 1595Food2 quotes
He hath eaten me out of house and home. — William Shakespeare · 1597Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour. — William Shakespeare · 1595Fortune2 quotes
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. — William Shakespeare · 1599Though Fortune’s malice overthrow my state,
My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel. — William Shakespeare · 1595Glory2 quotes
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
Till by broad spreading it disperse to naught. — William Shakespeare · 1592What is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?
And live we how we can, yet die we must. — William Shakespeare · 1595Letting go of the past2 quotes
Harp not on that string, madam; that is past. — William Shakespeare · 1597Things past redress are now with me past care. — William Shakespeare · 1595Marriage2 quotes
For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss
And is a pattern of celestial peace. — William Shakespeare · 1592Hasty marriage seldom proveth well. — William Shakespeare · 1595Men and women2 quotes
He is the half part of a blessèd man,
Left to be finishèd by such as she,
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fullness of perfection lies in him. — William Shakespeare · 1616She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
She is a woman, therefore to be won. — William Shakespeare · 1592Relationships2 quotes
He is the half part of a blessèd man,
Left to be finishèd by such as she,
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fullness of perfection lies in him. — William Shakespeare · 1616When love begins to sicken and decay
It useth an enforcèd ceremony. — William Shakespeare · 1599Reputation2 quotes
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interrèd with their bones. — William Shakespeare · 1599The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. — William Shakespeare · 1595Telling the truth2 quotes
They breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. — William Shakespeare · 1595For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech
To stir men’s blood. I only speak right on. — William Shakespeare · 1599The human condition2 quotes
There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. — William Shakespeare · 1599Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. — William Shakespeare · 1616Thoughts2 quotes
O, who can hold a fire in his hand
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite
By bare imagination of a feast?
Or wallow naked in December snow
By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat? — William Shakespeare · 1595My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel. — William Shakespeare · 1592Women2 quotes
She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
She is a woman, therefore to be won. — William Shakespeare · 1592How hard it is for women to keep counsel! — William Shakespeare · 1599Words vs. actions2 quotes
Talkers are no good doers. Be assured
We go to use our hands and not our tongues. — William Shakespeare · 1597Tis well said again,
And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well.
And yet words are no deeds. — William Shakespeare · 1613Accusations1 quote
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath! — William Shakespeare · 1597Adversity1 quote
Let me embrace the sour adversaries,
For wise men say it is the wisest course. — William Shakespeare · 1595Alcohol1 quote
I will make it felony to drink small beer. — William Shakespeare · 1594Appetite1 quote
He was a man
Of an unbounded stomach. — William Shakespeare · 1613Arrogance1 quote
I am not in the roll of common men. — William Shakespeare · 1597Bad mood1 quote
I am not in the giving vein today. — William Shakespeare · 1597Bad news1 quote
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office, and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell
Remembered tolling a departing friend. — William Shakespeare · 1597Battle1 quote
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead! — William Shakespeare · 1599Bearer of bad news1 quote
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office, and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell
Remembered tolling a departing friend. — William Shakespeare · 1597