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William Shakespeare quotes with source notes

This page gathers the current public RiseHush records attributed to William Shakespeare. A record with a locator is inspectable metadata; it is not a substitute for checking the edition and wording you intend to quote.

Source-backed records32

Documented corrections5

Uncertain research leads0

Correction records

Circulating wording with a documented correction

These entries record why a popular attribution or wording should be qualified. They are source-led corrections, not a claim that every edition or translation uses identical language.

alteredA rose by any other name smells just as sweet.1597, Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 2.alteredBubble, bubble, toil and trouble.1606, Macbeth, act 4, scene 1.alteredAlas, poor Yorick! I knew him well.1603, Hamlet, act 5, scene 1.alteredMethinks the lady doth protest too much.1603, Hamlet, act 3, scene 2.alteredAll that glitters is not gold.1596, The Merchant of Venice, act 2, scene 7.

Current catalog

Records with a locator

Each record links back to the source-aware catalog entry and the collection pages where the current wording appears.

verifiedThe course of true love never did run smooth.William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s Dream, I.i verifiedAnd as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s Dream, V.1 verifiedThe web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.William ShakespeareAll’s Well That Ends Well, IV.3 verifiedSweet are the uses of adversity.William ShakespeareAs You Like It, II.1 verifiedThis above all: to thine own self be true.William ShakespeareHamlet, I.3 verifiedThose friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.William ShakespeareHamlet, I.3 verifiedThis above all: to thine own self be true.William ShakespeareHamlet, I.iii verifiedBrevity is the soul of wit.William ShakespeareHamlet, II.2 verifiedThere is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.William ShakespeareHamlet, II.2 verifiedTo sleep, perchance to dream — ay, there's the rub.William ShakespeareHamlet, III.1 verifiedThe readiness is all.William ShakespeareHamlet, V.2 verifiedUneasy lies the head that wears a crown.William ShakespeareHenry IV, Part 2, III.1 verifiedUneasy lies the head that wears a crown.William ShakespeareHenry IV, Part 2, III.i verifiedCowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.William ShakespeareJulius Caesar, II.2 verifiedCowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.William ShakespeareJulius Caesar, II.ii verifiedThere is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.William ShakespeareJulius Caesar, IV.3 verifiedThere is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.William ShakespeareJulius Caesar, IV.3 verifiedThere is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.William ShakespeareJulius Caesar, IV.iii verifiedPray you now, forget and forgive.William ShakespeareKing Lear, IV.7 verifiedPresent fears are less than horrible imaginings.William ShakespeareMacbeth, I.3 verifiedI have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself.William ShakespeareMacbeth, I.7 verifiedScrew your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.William ShakespeareMacbeth, I.7 verifiedSleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care.William ShakespeareMacbeth, II.2 verifiedThings without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done.William ShakespeareMacbeth, III.2 verifiedOur doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.William ShakespeareMeasure for Measure, I.iv verifiedHow poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?William ShakespeareOthello, II.iii verifiedTrue hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings.William ShakespeareRichard III, V.2 verifiedThe quality of mercy is not strained.William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice, IV.1 verifiedWe are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.William ShakespeareThe Tempest, IV.1 verifiedThe rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.William ShakespeareThe Tempest, V.1 verifiedPerseverance, dear my lord, keeps honour bright.William ShakespeareTroilus and Cressida, III.3 verifiedI can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks.William ShakespeareTwelfth Night, III.iii

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