The most famous Shakespeare quotes
The top 3 according to 43 votes from people: Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York. · To be, or not to be: that is the question. · All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.. (Updated Apr 26, 2018.)
The lines from Shakespeare that everyone knows (even without having read the play), each with the play, act and scene and who says it. Ranked by how often they turn up in quotation dictionaries and lists.
Top 20
-
1
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York.
The opening lines of Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1.
-
2
To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, the start of his great soliloquy.
-
3
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
Jaques in As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7.
-
4
A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
Richard in Richard III, Act 5, Scene 4, at the Battle of Bosworth.
-
5
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 («wherefore» means «why», not «where»).
-
6
What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.
-
7
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2.
-
8
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Marcellus in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4.
-
9
This above all: to thine own self be true.
Polonius in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3.
-
10
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Polonius, ironically long-winded, in Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.
-
11
The course of true love never did run smooth.
Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1.
-
12
If music be the food of love, play on.
Duke Orsino's opening line in Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1.
-
13
Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.
The witches in Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1.
-
14
Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Polonius's advice to Laertes in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3.
-
15
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
Caesar in Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2.
-
16
Et tu, Brute?
Caesar's last words in Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1.
-
17
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
The forged letter read by Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5.
-
18
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Lady Macbeth sleepwalking in Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1.
-
19
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Queen Gertrude in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2.
-
20
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
Prospero in The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
-
21
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
The first line of Sonnet 18 (published 1609).
-
22
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5, in the «Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow» soliloquy.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (5)
'To be or not to be' at #1, obviously.
Fun fact that 'wherefore art thou' means 'why', not 'where'. Half the world gets it wrong.
So many phrases we use every day came from Shakespeare.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Still the most romantic line ever written.
Brevity is the soul of wit — said by Polonius, the most long-winded man in Denmark. Shakespeare's trolling.