50 Most Famous Shakespeare Quotes That Still Break Hearts

Shakespeare's words have a way of cutting straight to the heart: brief, impossible-to-forget lines that lift, console, challenge, and inspire. Whether you need a burst of courage, a comfort in sorrow, a line for a love note, or a phrase to steady your spirit, these famous Shakespeare quotes offer timeless motivation and emotional truth. Use them in messages, social posts, journaling prompts, speeches, or as daily mantras to reframe your day.

Motivational quotes

• "To be, or not to be: that is the question." (Hamlet)
• "The better part of Valour is Discretion." (Henry IV, Part 1)
• "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." (Measure for Measure)
• "Men at some time are masters of their fates." (Julius Caesar)
• "Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." (Julius Caesar)
• "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." (Julius Caesar)
• "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" (The Merchant of Venice)
• "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (Hamlet)
• "Be not afraid of greatness." (Twelfth Night)

Inspirational quotes

• "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." (As You Like It)
• "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." (The Tempest)
• "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." (Sonnet 18)
• "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." (Sonnet 18)
• "If music be the food of love, play on." (Twelfth Night)
• "This above all: to thine own self be true." (Hamlet)
• "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." (Antony and Cleopatra)
• "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more; Men were deceivers ever." (Much Ado About Nothing)
• "We must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures." (Julius Caesar)

Life wisdom quotes

• "All that glisters is not gold." (The Merchant of Venice)
• "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." (Hamlet)
• "When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools." (King Lear)
• "Nothing will come of nothing." (King Lear)
• "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" (King Lear)
• "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." (Hamlet)
• "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven." (All's Well That Ends Well)
• "There is a tide in the affairs of men..." (Julius Caesar)

Love & heartbreak quotes

• "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "These violent delights have violent ends." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "Thus with a kiss I die." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo." (Romeo and Juliet)
• "I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this; Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." (Othello)
• "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." (Othello)
• "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." (Sonnet 116)
• "Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds." (Sonnet 116)

Courage & success quotes

• "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." (Twelfth Night)
• "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." (Julius Caesar)
• "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." (Julius Caesar)
• "Men at some time are masters of their fates." (Julius Caesar)
• "Is this a dagger which I see before me..." (Macbeth)
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." (Macbeth)
• "The course of true love never did run smooth." (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
• "For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings." (Sonnet 29)

Daily inspiration quotes

• "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
• "I do love nothing in the world so well as you." (Much Ado About Nothing)
• "Put out the light, and then put out the light." (Othello)
• "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" (Macbeth)
• "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage..." (Macbeth)
• "I am dying, Egypt, dying." (Antony and Cleopatra)

Conclusion Quotes are small vessels of meaning — a few words that can steady your heart, shift your thinking, or ignite bold action. Shakespeare's lines do this better than most: they distill complex emotion into sharable truth. Keep a few favorites close, reread when you need courage or comfort, and let these famous Shakespeare quotes transform ordinary moments into deeper, braver ones.