Quotes About Shakespeare

In the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species.

This therefore is the praise of Shakespeare, that his drama is the mirrour of life; that he who has mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious extasies, by reading human sentiments in human language; by scenes from which a hermit may estimate the transactions of the world, and a confessor predict the progress of the passions.

Bleed, bleed, poor country!Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure;For goodness dares not check thee!His title is affear'd.Shakesp.Macbeth.

The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting to myrtles and to roses; filling the eye with awful pomp, and gratifying the mind with endless diversity.

ABYSM  (ABY'SM)   n.s.[abysme, old Fr. now written contractedly abîme.]A gulf; the same with abyss. My good stars, that were my former guides,Have empty left their orbs, and shot their firesInto the abysm of hell.Shakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra.

Shakespeare regarded more the series of ideas, than of words; and his language, not being designed for the reader's desk, was all that he desired it to be, if it conveyed his meaning to the audience.

ANTRE  (A'NTRE)   [antre, Fr. antrum, Lat.]A cavern; a cave; a den. With all my travels history:Wherein of antres vast, and desarts idle,It was my hent to speak.Shakesp.Othello.

Catechism.3. Recovery of health. Your honour's players hearing your amendment,Are come to play a pleasant comedy.Shakesp.Tam. Shrew.

AMORT  (AMO'RT)   adv.[à la mort, Fr.]In the state of the dead; dejected; depressed; spiritless. How fares my Kate? what, sweeting, all amort?Shakespeare'sTaming of the Shrew.

To see him act is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.

There is no higher or purer pleasure than to sit with closed eyes and hear a naturally expressive voice recite... a play of Shakespeare's.

First, take a deep breath. Assume Shakespeare's account is accurate and Julius Caesar gasped "You too, Brutus" before breathing his last. What are the chances you just inhaled a molecule which Caesar exhaled in his dying breath? The surprising answer is that, with probability better than 99 percent, you did just inhale such a molecule.

Mr. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford upon Avon in the County of Warwick. His father was a butcher, and I have been told heretofore by some of the neighbors, that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade, but when he killed a calf he would do it in a high style and make a speech.

In later life, people will be impressed that you can quote Shakespeare, and you will sound very intelligent. It's harder to quote trigonometry, or quadratic equations, and not half as romantic.

A condensed Shakespeare with all of the dull parts removed, leaving only the great moments of drama: ghosts, and bloodied daggers, and dying kings.

Shakespeare's personages live and move as if they had just come from the hand of God, with a life that, though manifold, is one, and, though complex, is harmonious.

My life has included a study of Shakespeare and to me it's very natural, but I know that it's not always accessible to other people.

Ten masts make not the altitude Which thou hast perpendicularly fell. Thy life's a miracle.

I say, without characters, fame lives long.

I don't think my looks are modern. I always imagined I'd end up doing Chekhov, Ibsen and Shakespeare all my life and never play a contemporary character.

Why would anyone be interested in my little personal story if we can do without Homer's or Shakespeare's? Someone who truly loves literature is like a person of faith. The believer knows very well that there is nothing at all at the bureau of vital statistics about the Jesus that truly counts for him.

Othello's suicide is profoundly moving; but it does not make us feel suicidal. What moves us is the way in which Shakespeare (and Verdi) made sense out of tragedy by making it part of an artistic whole. As Nietzsche realized, even tragedy is an affirmation of life.

How much do you know about Shakespeare?'' I once asked a friend who has committed much of her life to studying the Bard. She replied, ''Not as much as he knows about me''. Remember this the next time someone tells you literature is useless.

Shakespeare was a dramatist of note who lived by writing things to quote.