William Shakespeare on Words
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“So all my best is dressing old words new.”
- William Shakespeare, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations
“A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason with them.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Unpack my heart with words And fall a-cursing, like a very drab.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words That ever blotted paper!”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“His very words are a fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Madam, you have bereft me of all words, Only my blood speaks to you in my veins.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart; Th' effect doth operate another way.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“'Tis well said again; And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well: And yet words are no deeds.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“But words are words; I never yet did hear That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“I know thou'rt full of love and honesty, And weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise, Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, Figures pedantical.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“How long a time lies in one little word! Four lagging winters and four wanton springs End in a word: such is the breath of kings.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
“What art thou? Have not I An arm as big as thine? a heart as big? Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear My dagger in my mouth.”
- William Shakespeare, S)
Shakespeare playfully mocks verbose and ostentatious language in *Love's Labour's Lost* with this line featuring "honorificabilitudinitatibus," a word found in earlier works.
“O they have lived long on the alms-basket of words. I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word; for thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.”
- William Shakespeare, S)