Here is a collection of great and famous quotes from Shakespeare's plays and poems. An amazing amount of Shakespeare's writing has become part of modern English. Even someone who has never read Shakespeare is likely to be familiar with many of these quotes. You can find more Shakespeare resources in our Shakespeare section.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet. Act 3, Scene 1

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." - Twelfth Night Act 2, Scene 5.

"Friendship is constant in all things, save in the office and affairs of love." - Much Ado About Nothing. Claudio. Act 2, Scene 1.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Julius Ceaser. Cassius. Act 1, Scene 2.

"The course of true love never did run smooth." - A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lysander. Act I, Scene I

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." - Sonnet 18.

"Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!" - Julius Ceaser. Ceaser. Act 3, Scene 1.

"O beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." Othello. Iago. Act 3, Scene 3

"How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?" - Othello. Iago. Act 2, Scene 3.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." - Henry IV Part 2. Henry IV. Act 3, Scene 1.

"How far that little candle throws its beams! So shine a good deed in a naughty world." - The Merchant of Venice. Portia. Act 5, Scene 1.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once." - Julius Ceaser. Ceaser. Act 2, Scene 2.

"We know what we are, but know not what we may be." Hamlet. Ophelia. Act 4, Scene 5.

"All's well that ends well" - The name of a Shakespeare play that has becoming a common phrase.

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." - As You Like It. Touchstone. Act 5, Scene 1.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep." - The Tempest. Prospero. Act 4, Scene 1.

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." - As You Like It. Jaques. Act 2, Scene 7.

"This above all: to thine own self be true." - Hamlet. Polonius. Act 1, Scene 3.

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more." - Macbeth. Act 5, Scene 5.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet. Hamlet. Act 1, Scene 5.

"By all the vows that ever men have broke, In number more than ever women spoke." - A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hermia. Act 1, Scene 1.

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" - The Merchant of Venice. Shylock. Act 3, Scene 1.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - Hamlet. Gertrude. Act 3, Scene 2.

"All that glisters is not gold." - The Merchant of Venice. Morocco. Act 2, Scene 7.

"Cry 'Havoc!' let slip the dogs of war." - Julius Ceaser. Act 3, Scene 1.

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." - Romeo and Juliet. Juliet. Act 2, Scene 2.

"Love is a spirit all compact of fire,. Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire." - Venus and Adonis.

"If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die." - Twelfth Night. Orsino. Act 1, Scene 1.

"Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires." - Macbeth. Macbeth. Act 1, Scene 4.

"Such is my love, to thee I so belong,. That for thy right myself will bear all wrong." - Sonnet 88.