Thursday, April 24, 2014

Thursday Thirteen 329: Words from The Bard



Yesterday, April 23, is the day celebrated as William Shakespeare’s birthday, though his actual birth date is unknown. In honor of The Bard's 450th birthday, here are the top thirteen Shakespearean quotes listed at Goodreads.


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


2. "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
All's Well That Ends Well


3. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
A Midsummer Night's Dream


4. "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."
Twelfth Night


5. "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


6. "Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
Hamlet


7. "I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!"


8. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Julius Caesar


9. "All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
As You Like It



10. "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


11. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Hamlet


12. "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
The Tempest


13. "We know what we are, but not what we may be."
Hamlet



MORE LISTS: Thursday Thirteen






12 comments:

Alice Audrey said...

Talk about a wit! 450 years (minus a few to reach writing age) and it still makes me laugh.

Journeywoman said...

My Favorite is "But thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, I would scorn to trade my state with kings.

Heather said...

Alice: There's a reason we're still reading Shakespeare today. There is a great deal of wit, truth and sagacity in his writing -- not to mention the number of words he added to our vocabulary.

Heather said...

JourneyWoman: Thank you for sharing your favorite lines -- and for dropping by. ☺

Jennifer Leeland said...

I love to watch Shakespeare. Did you see the Josh Whedon version of "Much Ado About Nothing"? I liked it (Though I like Emma Thompson's better)

Heather said...

Jennifer: No, I've actually not seen either version of "Much Ado." Some day...

Mia Celeste said...

These are all good but I like number 12 the bast! Thanks for sharing the Bard's words.

Paige Tyler said...

Great TT! Love Shakespeare!

*hugs*
Paige

My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

Colleen@Looseleafnotes said...

It's just amazing to me how so many of these sayings have survived into modern culture. I grew up hearing so many of them and didn't always know they were from Shakespeare. I read Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth i n high school.

Shelley Munro said...

Shakespeare wrote some amazing lines, and they're so enduring. I loved #7. He was so witty.

Alice Audrey said...

In my high school English lit class, one of my classmates complained that Shakespeare's plays were all full of cliche. The teacher pointed out that none of the phrases were cliche when he used them.

Heather said...

Mia Celeste: Yes, Sartre was certainly paraphrasing Shakespeare when he said "L'enfer, c'est les autres" -- Hell is other people. LOL.

Thanks, Paige!

Colleen: We read both of those, as well as Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Of the four, Hamlet is my favorite, which we saw live at American Players Theater.

Shelley: He did indeed, and number seven is one of my favorites.

Alice: LOL...duh! ☺