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Tragedy (play)153 quotes
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. — William Shakespeare · 1616To 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—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. — William Shakespeare · 1616What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals-And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? — William Shakespeare · 1616Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. — William Shakespeare · 1616One lives but once in this world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1774Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy. — William Shakespeare · 1616All 153 quotes →Comedy (play)141 quotes
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never. — William Shakespeare · 1600Eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath. — William Shakespeare · 1599Good counselors lack no clients. — William Shakespeare · 1616The whirligig of time brings in his revenges. — William Shakespeare · 1602Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,
Shall win my love. — William Shakespeare · 1594Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. — George Bernard Shaw · 1909All 141 quotes →History (play)75 quotes
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath! — William Shakespeare · 1597Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once. — William Shakespeare · 1599I am not in the roll of common men. — William Shakespeare · 1597There lives not three good men unhanged in England, and one of them is fat and grows old. — William Shakespeare · 1597There 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 · 1599Men 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 · 1599All 75 quotes →Drama (play)28 quotes
Who reflects too much will accomplish little. — Friedrich Schiller · 1804Death in itself is nothing, but we fear
To be we know not what, we know not where. — John Dryden · 1675America is God's crucible, the great melting pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! — Israel Zangwill · 1908This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. — George Bernard Shaw · 1903The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — George Bernard Shaw · 1903Popularity? It is glory's small change. — Victor Hugo · 1838All 28 quotes →Greek tragedy28 quotes
For he does not wish to appear the bravest, but to be the bravest. — Aeschylus · 467 BCFor God hates utterly
The bray of bragging tongues. — Sophocles · 442 BCReason is God's crowning gift to man. — Sophocles · 442 BCHow dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's no help in truth! — Sophocles · 430 BCThe greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves. — Sophocles · 430 BCFor few there are among men in whom it is inborn to admire without envy a friend's good fortune. — Aeschylus · 458 BCAll 28 quotes →Tragedy20 quotes
One lives but once in this world. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1774Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain. — Friedrich Schiller · 1801A service beyond all recompense
Weighs so heavy that it almost gives offense. — Pierre Corneille · 1674Who strives always to the utmost,
For him there is salvation. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1808What's not forbidden to do make bold. — Friedrich Schiller · 1798The deed is all, the glory nothing. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1832All 20 quotes →Tragic play15 quotes
There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man. — Sophocles · 441 BCHeav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd. — William Congreve · 1697You have deeply ventured;
But all must do so who would greatly win. — Lord Byron · 1821Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. — Heinrich Heine · 1821One can live for years sometimes, without living at all, and then all life comes crowding into a single hour. — Oscar Wilde · 1880My tongue swore, but my mind's unsworn. — Euripides · 428 BCAll 15 quotes →Comedy14 quotes
There is a pleasure sure,
In being mad, which none but madmen know! — John Dryden · 1680Dead men tell no tales. — John Dryden · 1680Tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1777There is a very pretty Collection of Prints in the next Room, Madam, will you give me leave to explain them to you? — Susanna Centlivre · 1710We only die once, and for such a long time! — Moliere · 1656You see him laboring to produce bons mots. — Moliere · 1666All 14 quotes →Greek theater13 quotes
There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man. — Sophocles · 441 BCThe old are in a second childhood. — Aristophanes · 423 BCThese impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: can't live with them, or without them! — Aristophanes · 411 BCMy tongue swore, but my mind's unsworn. — Euripides · 428 BCThe happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BCJustice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. — Aeschylus · 458 BCAll 13 quotes →Romantic comedy (play)12 quotes
The whirligig of time brings in his revenges. — William Shakespeare · 1602But be not afraid of greatness.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em. — William Shakespeare · 1602If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die. — William Shakespeare · 1602How apt the poor are to be proud! — William Shakespeare · 1602Then let thy love be younger than thyself,
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent.
For women are as roses, whose fair flower,
Being once displayed, doth fall that very hour. — William Shakespeare · 1602What is love? ’Tis not hereafter.
Present mirth hath present laughter.
What’s to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty,
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty.
Youth’s a stuff will not endure. — William Shakespeare · 1602All 12 quotes →Comedic play7 quotes
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. — Oscar Wilde · 1892The old are in a second childhood. — Aristophanes · 423 BCThese impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: can't live with them, or without them! — Aristophanes · 411 BC'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but death and taxes. — Christopher Bullock · 1716You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner. — Aristophanes · 424 BCBetween men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship. — Oscar Wilde · 1892All 7 quotes →Satire7 quotes
The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me. — George Bernard Shaw · 1898True happinesse
Consists not in the multitude of friends,
But in the worth, and choice. — Ben Jonson · 1600Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1779The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1779People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. — George Bernard Shaw · 1898There shall be no love lost. — Ben Jonson · 1599All 7 quotes →Drama6 quotes
Who reflects too much will accomplish little. — Friedrich Schiller · 1804America is God's crucible, the great melting pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! — Israel Zangwill · 1908We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. — J.B. Priestley · 1945Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death's the other. — Tennessee Williams · 1955The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go, doesn't it? — Thornton Wilder · 1938We keep saying old people are square. Then when they suddenly aren't-we don't like it! — Peter Shaffer · 1973Comedy of manners4 quotes
Tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1777Never say more than is necessary. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1775Be just before you're generous. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1777Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs. — Noel Coward · 1930Problem play4 quotes
Words pay no debts. — William Shakespeare · 1603I am giddy; expectation whirls me round.
Th' imaginary relish is so sweet
That it enchants my sense. — William Shakespeare · 1603Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing. — William Shakespeare · 1603Men prize the thing ungained more than it is. — William Shakespeare · 1603Modernist literature3 quotes
You're on earth, there's no cure for that! — Samuel Beckett · 1957They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more. — Samuel Beckett · 1953Let us pray to God... The bastard! He doesn't exist! — Samuel Beckett · 1957Satire (play)3 quotes
Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1779The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1779There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan · 1779History play1 quote
The pen is mightier than the sword. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton · 1839Masque (play)1 quote
Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
That I incline to hope rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion. — John Milton · 1634Musical1 quote
Once I built a railroad, now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime? — Yip Harburg · 1932Musical (play)1 quote
Once I built a railroad, now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime? — Yip Harburg · 1932Southern gothic1 quote
Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death's the other. — Tennessee Williams · 1955Tragicomedy1 quote
To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory. — Pierre Corneille · 1636