William Shakespeare Birthday: Quotes From The Bard’s Famous Works

April 23 marks the 455th birth anniversary of famed poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Incidentally, since historians believe he died in 1616, on the same date as his birthday, it also marks the 403th death anniversary of the bard.

Shakespeare produced an estimated 37 plays during his lifetime. Some of his most popular works include great tragedies such as “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “King Lear,” and comedies like “Measure For Measure,” “As You Like It,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

A number of the quotes from those plays and others have become immortal in popular culture. Here are a few of them, courtesy Brainy Quote, as the world celebrates Shakespeare.

“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”

“This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honor, is but a walking shadow; a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — “Macbeth”

“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” — “Measure For Measure”

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” — “Hamlet”

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” — “Julius Caesar”

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another?” — “Hamlet”

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” — “All's Well that Ends Well”

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” — “Romeo and Juliet”

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” — “As You Like It”

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” — “Julius Caesar”

“Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.” — “As You Like It”

“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” — “Measure For Measure”

“There is no darkness but ignorance.” — “Twelfth Night”

“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” — “Romeo and Juliet”

“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” — “Hamlet”

“If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.” — “Macbeth”

“What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god.” — “Hamlet”

“Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore, so do our minutes, hasten to their end.” — “Sonnet 60”

“A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.” — “Much Ado About Nothing”

“But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes.” — “As You Like It”

“Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.” — “Troilus and Cressida”

“The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.” — “The Merchant Of Venice”