Will's Quotes o' the Day

The "Will's Quote o' the Day" script seen on the SRC home page uses 137 quotes from the plays. These change automatically on a daily rotation. I picked the quotes because they're famous. Or, in some cases, because they're pithy. Or in some other cases, because they simply struck me the right way at the time I was choosing them. Anyway, the full gamut of quotes is presented below.


From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed.
     — All's Well that Ends Well, Act II, sc. iii

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
     — All's Well that Ends Well, Act III, sc. v

I am fire and air; my other elements
I give to baser life.
     — Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, sc. ii

O, how full of briers is this working-day world!
     — As You Like It, Act I, sc. iii

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
     — As You Like It, Act II, sc. vii

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
     — As You Like It, Act V, sc. i

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
     — Coriolanus, Act II, sc. i

Some griefs are medicinable.
     — Cymbeline, Act III, sc. ii

How hard it is to hide the sparks of nature!
     — Cymbeline, Act III, sc. iii

Frailty, thy name is woman!
     — Hamlet, Act I, sc. ii

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
     — Hamlet, Act I, sc. iii

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
     — Hamlet, Act I, sc. iii

Brevity is the soul of wit.
     — Hamlet, Act II, sc. ii

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
     — Hamlet, Act II, sc. ii

The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
     — Hamlet, Act II, sc. ii

To be, or not to be: that is the question.
     — Hamlet, Act III, sc. i

O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
     — Hamlet, Act III, sc. i

Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
     — Hamlet, Act V, sc. ii

If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work.
     — Henry IV, Part 1, Act I, sc. ii

Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.
     — Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, sc. iii

He hath eaten me out of house and home.
     — Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, sc. i

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...!
     — Henry V, Act III, sc. i

Men of few words are the best men.
     — Henry V, Act III, sc. ii

Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own.
     — Henry V, Act IV, sc. i

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.
     — Henry VI, Part 2, Act I, sc. ii

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
     — Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, sc. ii

O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide!
     — Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, sc. iv

I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels.
     — Henry VIII, Act III, sc. ii

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water.
     — Henry VIII, Act IV, sc. ii

Beware the ides of March.
     — Julius Caesar, Act I, sc. ii

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers.
     — Julius Caesar, Act II, sc. i

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
     — Julius Caesar, Act II, sc. ii

Et tu, Brute! Then fall Caesar!
     — Julius Caesar, Act III, sc. i

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
     — Julius Caesar, Act III, sc. i

Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war.
     — Julius Caesar, Act III, sc. i

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
     — Julius Caesar, Act III, sc. ii

And oftentimes excusing of a fault
Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.
     — King John, Act IV, sc. ii

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make deeds ill done!
     — King John, Act IV, sc. ii

Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
     — King Lear, Act I, sc. i

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child!
     — King Lear, Act I, sc. iv

I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
     — King Lear, Act III, sc. ii

The worst is not
So long as we can say, "This is the worst."
     — King Lear, Act IV, sc. i

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They kill us for their sport.
     — King Lear, Act IV, sc. i

When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.
     — King Lear, Act IV, sc. vi

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us.
     — King Lear, Act V, sc. iii

Never durst poet touch a pen to write
Until his ink were tempered with Love's sighs.
     — Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, sc. iii

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it.
     — Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, sc. ii

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
     — Macbeth, Act I, sc. i

Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
     — Macbeth, Act I, sc. iii

I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
     — Macbeth, Act I, sc. vii

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
     — Macbeth, Act II, sc. i

Glamis hath murdered sleep, and there Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!
     — Macbeth, Act II, sc. ii

A little water clears us of this deed.
     — Macbeth, Act II, sc. ii

There's daggers in men's smiles.
     — Macbeth, Act II, sc. iii

Blood will have blood.
     — Macbeth, Act III, sc. iv

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
     — Macbeth, Act IV, sc. i

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
     — Macbeth, Act IV, sc. i

Macbeth shall never vanquished be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
     — Macbeth, Act IV, sc. i

When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
     — Macbeth, Act IV, sc. ii

What's done cannot be undone.
     — Macbeth, Act V, sc. i

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day....
     — Macbeth, Act V, sc. v

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
     — Measure for Measure, Act II, sc. i

The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.
     — Measure for Measure, Act II, sc. ii

The miserable have no other medicine,
But only hope.
     — Measure for Measure, Act III, sc. i

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.
     — Measure for Measure, Act III, sc. i

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
     — The Merchant of Venice, Act I, sc. iii

All that glisters is not gold.
     — The Merchant of Venice, Act II, sc. vii

Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
     — The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I, sc. iv

Why, then the world 's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.
     — The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, sc. ii

The course of true love never did run smooth.
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act I, sc. i

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III, sc. ii

Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III, sc. ii

My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamoured of an ass.
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV, sc. i

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, sc. i

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
     — A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, sc. i

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,-
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
     — Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, sc. iii

But words are words; I never yet did hear
That the bruised heart was pierced through the ear.
     — Othello, Act I, sc. iii

If it were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy.
     — Othello, Act II, sc. i

O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
     — Othello, Act II, sc. ii

Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.
     — Othello, Act II, sc. ii

How poor are they that have not patience!
     — Othello, Act II, sc. iii

Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.
     — Othello, Act III, sc. iii

To be direct and honest is not safe.
     — Othello, Act III, sc. iii

I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words.
     — Othello, Act IV, sc. ii

Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!
     — Othello, Act V, sc. ii

Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.
     — Richard II, Act I, sc. iii

Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.
     — Richard II, Act I, sc. iii

The ripest fruit first falls.
     — Richard II, Act II, sc. i

You may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.
     — Richard II, Act IV, sc. i

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
     — Richard II, Act V, sc. ii

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
     — Richard III, Act I, sc. i

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
     — Richard III, Act I, sc. ii

Was ever woman in this humour wooed?
Was ever woman in this humour won?
     — Richard III, Act I, sc. ii

Since every Jack became a gentleman
There's many a gentle person made a Jack.
     — Richard III, Act I, sc. iii

So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
     — Richard III, Act III, sc. i

Harp not on that string.
     — Richard III, Act IV, sc. iv

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
     — Richard III, Act V, sc. iii

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
     — Richard III, Act V, sc. iv

He that is strucken blind cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. i

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act II, sc. ii

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act II, sc. ii

What 's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act II, sc. ii

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act II, sc. ii

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act III, sc. ii

There's no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act III, sc. ii

Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,
And thou art wedded to calamity.
     — Romeo and Juliet, Act III, sc. iii

There's small choice in rotten apples.
     — The Taming of the Shrew, Act I, sc. i

This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.
     — The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, sc. i

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband.
     — The Taming of the Shrew, Act V, sc. ii

My library
Was dukedom large enough.
     — The Tempest, Act I, sc. i

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
     — The Tempest, Act II, sc. ii

He that dies pays all debts.
     — The Tempest, Act III, sc. ii

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
     — The Tempest, Act IV, sc. i

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
     — The Tempest, Act V, sc. i

The strain of man's bred out
Into baboon and monkey.
     — Timon of Athens, Act I, sc. i

Like madness is the glory of this life.
     — Timon of Athens, Act I, sc. ii

Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.
     — Timon of Athens, Act III, sc. v

We have seen better days.
     — Timon of Athens, Act IV, sc. ii

O! the fierce wretchedness that glory brings us.
     — Timon of Athens, Act IV, sc. ii

If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.
     — Titus Andronicus, Act V, sc. iii

Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.
     — Troilus and Cressida, Act I, sc. ii

The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance.
     — Troilus and Cressida, Act II, sc. iii

Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery: nothing else holds fashion.
     — Troilus and Cressida, Act V, sc. ii

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, Act I, sc. i

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
     — Twelfth Night, Act I, sc. v

Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
     — Twelfth Night, Act II, sc. iv

But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
     — Twelfth Night, Act II, sc. v

This fellow's wise enough to play the fool,
And to do that well craves a kind of wit.
     — Twelfth Night, Act III, sc. i

O world! how apt the poor are to be proud.
     — Twelfth Night, Act III, sc. i

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
     — Twelfth Night, Act III, sc. i

If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
     — Twelfth Night, Act III, sc. iv

That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
     — The Two Gentleman of Verona, Act III, sc. i

Come not within the measure of my wrath.
     — The Two Gentleman of Verona, Act V, sc. iv

Men are mad things.
     — The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act II, sc. ii

It is a heretic that makes the fire,
Not she who burns in't.
     — The Winter's Tale, Act II, sc. iii

What's gone and what's past help
Should be past grief.
     — The Winter's Tale, Act III, sc. ii

Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
     — The Winter's Tale, Act IV, sc. iii