Timeless Inspiration: A Curated Collection of Shakespeare's Most Inspirational Quotes

"To be, or not to be, that is the question."

- William Shakespeare

"To be or not to be: that is the question."

- William Shakespeare

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

- William Shakespeare

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?"

- William Shakespeare

"All the world’s a stage."

- William Shakespeare

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more."

- William Shakespeare

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."

- William Shakespeare

"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."

- Shakespeare

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them"

- William Shakespeare

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."

- William Shakespeare

"This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is 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."

- William Shakespeare

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

- William Shakespeare

"Better three hours too soon than a minute late."

- William Shakespeare

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

- William Shakespeare

"Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt."

- William Shakespeare

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken."

- William Shakespeare

"This above all: to thine own self be true."

- William Shakespeare

"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."

- William Shakespeare

"A lover’s eyes will gaze an eagle blind. A lover’s ear will hear the lowest sound."

- William Shakespeare

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

- William Shakespeare

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?"

- William Shakespeare

"But love is blind, and lovers cannot see."

- William Shakespeare

"Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour As thou are in desire?"

- William Shakespeare

"O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant."

- William Shakespeare

"In time we hate that which we often fear."

- William Shakespeare

"We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone."

- William Shakespeare

"Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day."

- William Shakespeare

"How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?"

- William Shakespeare

"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

- William Shakespeare

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."

- William Shakespeare

"What's past is prologue."

- William Shakespeare

"One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun ne'er saw her match since first the world begun."

- William Shakespeare

"And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays."

- William Shakespeare

"Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn."

- William Shakespeare

"What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine."

- William Shakespeare

"Love sought is good, but given unsought better."

- William Shakespeare

"Journeys end in lovers meeting, every wise man’s son doth know."

- William Shakespeare

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything."

- William Shakespeare

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you—is not that strange?"

- William Shakespeare

"Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing."

- William Shakespeare

"Life every man holds dear; but the brave man holds honor far more precious-dear than life."

- William Shakespeare

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

- William Shakespeare

"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action."

- William Shakespeare

"If music be the food of love, play on."

- William Shakespeare

"What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as sweet."

- William Shakespeare

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."

- Polonius

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."

- Hamlet

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."

- Seneca

"If it be now, 'tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all."

- Hamlet

"Love is a smoke rais’d with the fume of sighs; Being purg’d, a fire sparkling in a lover’s eyes; Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet."

- William Shakespeare

"If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die."

- William Shakespeare

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite."

- William Shakespeare

"Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken."

- William Shakespeare

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

- William Shakespeare

"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

- William Shakespeare

"Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."

- William Shakespeare

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

- William Shakespeare

"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself."

- William Shakespeare

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date."

- William Shakespeare

"And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence; Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence."

- William Shakespeare

"As, I confess, it is my nature's plague To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy Shapes faults that are not."

- William Shakespeare

"How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!"

- William Shakespeare

"Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting."

- William Shakespeare

"All other doubts, by time let them be clear'd: Fortune brings in some boats, that are not steered."

- William Shakespeare

"Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak."

- William Shakespeare

"Thou know'st the first time that we smell the air we wawl and cry. When we are born we cry, that we are come to this great state of fools."

- William Shakespeare

"There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered."

- William Shakespeare

"A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm."

- William Shakespeare

"The spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries, and the mazèd world By their increase now knows not which is which."

- William Shakespeare

"Many a man his life hath sold but my outside to behold. Gilded tombs do worms enfold."

- William Shakespeare

"I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine. Besides, I like you not."

- William Shakespeare

"What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter: Present mirth hath present laughter."

- William Shakespeare

"You are not worth another word else I’d call you knave."

- William Shakespeare

"A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee."

- William Shakespeare

"I kiss thee with a most constant heart."

- William Shakespeare

"Thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

- William Shakespeare

"Love comforteth like sunshine after rain."

- Venus and Adonis

"I do desire we may be better strangers."

- William Shakespeare

"Goodnight, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

- Horatio

"There’s beggary in the love that can be reckoned."

- William Shakespeare

"If thou rememb’rest not the slightest folly That ever love did make thee run into, Thou has not loved."

- William Shakespeare

"A lover’s eyes will gaze an eagle blind. A lover’s ear will hear the lowest sound, When the suspicious head of theft is stopped. Love’s feeling is more soft and sensible Than are the tender horns of cockled snails. And when love speaks, the voice of all the gods Make heaven drowsy with the harmony."

- Berowne

"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy, For the apparel oft proclaims the man."

- William Shakespeare

"Good company, good wine, good welcome can make good people"

- William Shakespeare

"The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch"

- William Shakespeare

"Diseased Nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions."

- William Shakespeare

"If I be waspish, best beware of my sting"

- William Shakespeare

"When you depart from me, sorrow abides and happiness takes his leave."

- William Shakespeare

"When you do dance, I wish you A wave o’ th’ sea, that you might ever do Nothing but that. . ."

- William Shakespeare

"So are you to my thoughts as food to life, Or as sweet-seasoned showers are to the ground."

- William Shakespeare

"I would not wish any companion in the world but you."

- William Shakespeare

"Thee will I love, and with thee lead my life."

- William Shakespeare

"To thine own self be true."

- Dolly Parton

"The fault…is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

- William Shakespeare

"The earth has music for those who listen."

- William Shakespeare

"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind."

- William Shakespeare

"Thought is free."

- William Shakespeare

"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

- William Shakespeare

"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."

- William Shakespeare

"Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge."

- William Shakespeare

"No legacy is so rich as honesty."

- William Shakespeare

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

"They do not love that do not show their love."