To celebrate the release of our Shakespeare themed coloring book, Color The Bard: A Coloring Book Featuring the Sonnets, Sound, And Fury of William Shakespeare, we’ve collected some of his most famous quotes about life and love.
Though William Shakespeare has been dead for more than 400 years, The Bard’s writing still resonates with modern audiences because of his well-phrased insight into the human condition. Shakespeare’s quotes about life and love still ring true to this day!
“If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! “
— Orsino, Twelfth Night
“Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
— Feste, Twelfth Night
“The better part of valor is discretion.”
— Falstaff, Henry IV, Part 1
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
— Polonius, Hamlet
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
— Helena, Midsummer Night’s Dream
“Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.”
— Caesar, Julius Caesar
“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, Macbeth
“All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.”
— Prince of Morocco, Merchant of Venice
“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
— Lysander, Midsummer Night’s Dream
“Go hang yourselves all!
You are idle shallow things; I am not of your element.”
— Malvolio, Twelfth Night
“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall”
— Escalus, Measure for Measure
“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,
His acts being seven ages.”
— Jaques, As You Like It
“Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed.”
— Joan la Pucelle, King Henry the Sixth, Part I
“Let every man be master of his time.”
— Macbeth, Macbeth
“Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.”
— Lewis, King John
“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn,
good and ill together.”
— First Lord, All’s Well That Ends Well
“O excellent! I love long life better than figs.”
— Charmian, Antony and Cleopatra
“To thine own self be true.”
— Polonius, Hamlet
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on
and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
— Prospero, The Tempest
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
—Malvolio, Twelfth Night
“The time of life is short;
to spend that shortness basely were too long.”
— Hotspur, Henry IV, Part 1
“I burn, I pine, I perish.”
— Lucentio, The Taming of the Shrew
“When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.”
— King Lear, King Lear
“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
— Trinculo, The Tempest
“I am a man more sinned against than sinning.”
— King Lear, King Lear
Were there any quotes we missed? Leave your favorite Shakespearian lines in the comments! If you want to color some of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes, grab a copy of Color the Bard: The Sonnets, Sound, and Fury of William Shakespeare. It’s a wonderful escape from the “slings and arrows” of everyday life for any literature lover.
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