I had rather be a toad, and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others uses.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Jealousy, Defects
For his bounty, there was no winter in’t; an autumn ’twas that grew the more by reaping.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Generosity
Repentance is the heart’s sorrow, and a clear life ensuing.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Repentance
He is but the counterfeit of a man, who has not the life of a man.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Man
Conceit in weakest bodies works the strongest.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Conceit, Defects, Vanity
Better conquest never canst thou make, than warn thy constant and thy nobler parts against giddy, loose suggestions.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Self-Control
I speak of peace, while covert enmity under the smile of safety wounds the world
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Safety
Whose own hard dealings teach them, suspect the thoughts of others.
—William Shakespeare
Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more,
Macbeth does murder sleep the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Relaxation, Sleep
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Virtues, Loyalty, Zeal
Fire that is closest kept burns most of all.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Secrecy
To willful men, the injuries that they themselves procure, must be their schoolmasters.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Injury, Experience, Character
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Thought, Dreams
The proverb is something musty.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Proverbs, Proverbial Wisdom
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Smile
Care’s an enemy of life.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Worry
When the moon shone we did not see the candle: so doth the greater glory dim the less.—A substitute shines lightly as a king until a king be by, and then his state empties itself, as doth an inland brook into the main of waters.
—William Shakespeare
Better a little chiding than a great deal of heartbreak.
—William Shakespeare
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Self Respect, Communication
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Friendship
In persons grafted in a serious trust, negligence is a crime.
—William Shakespeare
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Insanity
Our bodies are our gardens—our wills are our gardeners.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Willpower, The Body, Will, Will Power
Words, words, mere words; no matter from the heart.
—William Shakespeare
How poor are they that have not patience? What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Patience, Resilience
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Misfortunes, Fortune
A good heart is worth gold.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Heart
Our wills and fates do so contrary run, that our devices still are overthrown; our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Fate, Thought
O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem, by that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Beauty
A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.
—William Shakespeare
Topics: Feelings, Friendship, Friends
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Dorothy L. Sayers English Novelist, Playwright
- Dodie Smith British Novelist
- Graham Greene British Novelist
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan Irish-born British Playwright
- Christopher Marlowe English Playwright
- Lawrence Durrell British Biographer
- Edna St. Vincent Millay American Poet
- William Congreve English Dramatist
- Colley Cibber English Playwright
- Pietro Aretino Italian Author
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