William Shakespeare is the most well-known poet and playwright in English literature. He wrote around 38 dramas and 154 sonnets and two narrative poems.
The potency of his language and the novel expressions he used, made his sayings vivid and effective. Here are some of his most common and influencial sayings:
From King Lear
1. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" - ( Act I, Scene IV).
Meaning: Having a thankless child is even sharper than the tooth of a serpent.
2. "I am a man more sinned against than sinning". - (Act III, Scene II).
Meaning: I have done wrong doings but the wrongs done to me are more and worse.
3. "My love's more richer than my tongue". (Act I, Scene I).
Meaning: I cannot express my love in words.
4."Nothing will come of nothing." (Act I, Scene I).
Meaning: If you have nothing, then you will give nothing.
5. "Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest". - ( Act I, Scene IV).
Meaning: don't expose all what you have.
From Romeo and Juliet
6. "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" ( Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: Juliet is from the east and she is the sun because she is as beautiful as the sun that rises from the east.
7. "Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow."
( Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: It is both sweet and sorrowful to part with the beloved that he wishes to say good night until the next day comes and they both meet again.
8. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". ( Act II, Sc. II).
Meaning: would the rose smell sweet if we change it's name?
9. "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast". ( Act II, Scene III).
Meaning: We should not rush and take things slowly and rationally because hastling will engender stumbling.
10. "O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright" (Act I, Sc. V).
Meaning: she is so beautiful that she teaches the torches how to light and be bright.
11. love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit. ( Act ii. sce. 6. )
Meaning: under the influence of love, the lovers don't notice the silly things they do.
From The Merchant of Venice
12. "All that glisters is not gold." (Act ii. scene 7)
Meaning: Appearance is deceptive.
13. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - (Act III, scene I)
Meaning: We should have sympathy for others and not let any racial, religious, or other differences pose us to do injustice to them. Further, these who are being wronged against might revenge someday.
From Hamlet
14. "To be, or not to be: that is the question". (Act III, Sc. I).
Meaning: this is one of the most well-known sayings ever. It indicates the dilemma of hesitation and making decisive decisions.
15. "Brevity is the soul of wit". - Hamlet (Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: to be brief is to be witty.
16. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Meaning: our thinking determines the situation whether good or bad. In other words, if we control our thoughts, we can control the situation.
From Macbeth
17. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow. (Act V, Scene V)
Meaning: life is as short and fast as a shadow that passes by.
18. what 's done is done". ( Act III, Scene II).
Meaning: we cannot bring back the past.
From his Sonnets
19. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." (Sonnet 116)
Meaning: We should not prevent those who love each other truly from getting married.
20. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." ( Sonnet 18)
Meaning: As long as people live and read these verses, they will know about you. Therefore, you will be alive as they read about you.
Note: many of Shakespear's sayings became proverbs.
Read them, use them, and enjoy English!
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