Top 40 Shakespeare Quotes

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Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers of all time. With that in mind, check out the top 40 Shakespeare quotes.

#40 – 30. Shakespeare Quotes

40. “Action is eloquence.” Volumnia in Coriolanus

39. “By all the vows that ever men have broke, In number more than ever women spoke” A Midsummer Night’s Dream

38. “Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” Juliet in Romeo and Juliet

37. “Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend Under thy own life’s key: be cheque’d for silence, But never tax’d for speech.” All’s Well That Ends Well

36. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Hamlet in Hamlet

35. “We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.” The Tempest

34. “Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.” Lucio in Measure for Measure

33. “From women’s eyes this doctrine I derive: They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; They are the books, the arts, the academes, That show, contain, and nourish all the world.” Berowne in Love’s Labor’s Lost

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

31. “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” Escalus in Measure for Measure

30. “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.” Jaques in As You Like It

#29 – 20. Shakespeare Quotes

29. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.” Julius Caesar

28. “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;” Hamlet

27. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” Hamlet

26. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

25. “Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, excessive grief the enemy to the living.” All’s Well That Ends Well

24. “This above all: to thine ownself be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Polonius in Hamlet

23. “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever; One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never.” Balthazar in Much Ado About Nothing

22. “Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides: Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.” Cordelia in King Lear

21. “Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” Romeo and Juliet

20. “Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.” Dauphin in Henry V

#19 – 10. Shakespeare Quotes

19. “I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety.” Boy in Henry V

18. “Come, let’s away to prison; We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news.” Lear in King Lear

17. “For your brother and my sister no sooner met, but they looked; no sooner looked, but they loved; no sooner loved, but they sighed; no sooner sighed, but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy.” Rosalind in As You Like It

16. “Ay me, for aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth, But either it was different in blood—” A Midsummer Night’s Dream

15. “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” Macbeth in Macbeth

14. “Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest, Ride more than thou goest, Learn more than thou trowest, Set less than thou throwest.” The Fool in King Lear

13. “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” Claudio in Measure for Measure

12. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” from “Sonnet 8”

11. “I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?” Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing

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

#9 – 1. Shakespeare Quotes

9. “The wheel is come full circle: I am here.” Edmund in King Lear

8. “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 in Macbeth

7. “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.” Cassius in Julius Caesar

6. “The robb’d that smiles, steals something from the thief.” Duke of Venice in Othello

5. “I burn, I pine, I perish.” Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew

4. “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.” Touchstone in As You Like It

3. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.” A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2. “They have been at a great feast of languages, and stol’n the scraps.” Moth in Love’s Labor’s Lost

1.”Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” Polonius in Hamlet

Ideas for the top 40 Shakespeare quotes were taken from the following sources. ^[1]Buzzfeed – 34 Of The Most Brilliant Shakespeare Quote^[2]Time – Here Are Shakespeare’s 15 Most Beloved Quotes