Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Thirteen Shakespearean Quotes




Shakespeare on...

Life

"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."
--From As You Like It

Love

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."
--From Romeo and Juliet

Pursuing a Woman

O, mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Every wise man's son doth know.
What 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.
--From Twelfth Night

Analyzing Love Letters

"Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ:
'Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,
To the sweet Julia':--that I'll tear away;
And yet I will not, sith so prettily
He couples it to his complaining names:
Thus will I fold them one upon another:
Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.
--The Two Gentlemen of Verona (I, ii, 23-24)

True Love

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind".
--A Midsummer Night's Dream

Greatness

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

Hope

"The miserable have no other medicine but only hope".
--Measure for Measure

Word-Play

"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is".
--The Merry Wives of Windsor

Evil

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose".
--The Merchant of Venice

Anti-Semitism

"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?"
--From The Merchant of Venice

Inspiration and Imagination

"O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire
Crouch for employment."
--Henry V, Prologue

Love that Lasts

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
--Sonnet 116

God

"God shall be my hope, my stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet"
--Henry VI, Act ii, Sc.3

10 comments:

Sharon said...

One of my favorite Thursday Thirteen ever! What a mighty pen he had! Well read and well said Mistress Starshine!

Autumn's Mom said...

Thou hath outdone thyself. LOVE LOVE IT.

of course my fave,

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
--Sonnet 116

Kate Winslet, Sense and Sensibility

Buttercup said...

Great quotes. Somehow I missed (in my formal education) most of Shakespeare. I should really take a class on that.

Beenzzz said...

They are all wonderful quotes. I really like the one about true love. I am SUCH a romantic at heart! :)

J said...

I LOVED this. Great job, Starshine! I've taken a class or two in Shakespeare, and haven't met a clunker yet. LOVED Henry V, and I have to go see every ballet, play, whatever of Romeo and Juliet. I can't help it.

I like this quote, from Macbeth:
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
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."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

Tracy said...

J,

If you haven't yet seen Kenneth Branaugh's Henry V, you must Netflix it! It is nothing short of inspiring!

-Starshine

ML said...

What a neat and unique Thursday Thirteen! I love it!

Erin Faye said...

I love your thirteen!
Thanks for stopping by!

J said...

Actually, I did see Henry V, Starshine...happily, it came out while I was taking a Shakespeare class in College, and we had just watched the Olivier version, and then some of us (separately) went to see it in the theater. SO good. You're right about that. :)

Dane Bramage said...

What a great list! I only studied Shakespear in High School a million years ago and only a couple plays but I wish I could quote him.

My Thursday Thirteen, the 13 Searches That Led To My Blog Edition is up. Stop by if you get a chance!