PHRASES FROM SHAKESPEARE

135 Phrases coined by William Shakespeare

Barry Manilow may claim to write the songs, but it was William Shakespeare who coined the phrases - he contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language than any other individual, and most of them are still in daily use. Here's a collection of well-known quotations that are associated with Shakespeare. Most of these were the Bard's own work, but he wasn't averse to stealing a good line occasionally and a few of these were 'popularised by' rather than 'coined by' Shakespeare. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger A Daniel come to judgement A dish fit for the gods A fool's paradise A foregone conclusion A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse A ministering angel shall my sister be A plague on both your houses A rose by any other name would smell as sweet A sea change A sorry sight Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio All corners of the world All one to me All that glitters is not gold / All that glisters is not gold All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players All's well that ends well An ill-favoured thing sir, but mine own And shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school And thereby hangs a tale As cold as any stone As dead as a doornail As good luck would have it As merry as the day is long As pure as the driven snow At one fell swoop Bag and baggage Beast with two backs Beware the ides of March Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks Brevity is the soul of wit But screw your courage to the sticking-place But, for my own part, it was Greek to me Come the three corners of the world in arms Come what come may Comparisons are odorous Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war Dash to pieces Discretion is the better part of valour Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble Eaten out of house and home Et tu, Brute Even at the turning of the tide Exceedingly well read Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog Fair play Fancy free Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man Fight fire with fire For ever and a day Frailty, thy name is woman Foul play Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears Good men and true Good riddance Green eyed monster Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings He will give the Devil his due Heart's content High time His beard was as white as snow Hoist by your own petard Hot-blooded Household words How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child I bear a charmed life I have not slept one wink I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips I will wear my heart upon my sleeve If music be the food of love, play on In a pickle In my mind's eye, Horatio In stitches In the twinkling of an eye Is this a dagger which I see before me? It beggar'd all description It is meat and drink to me Lay it on with a trowel Lie low Like the Dickens Love is blind Make your hair stand on end Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water Milk of human kindness Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows More fool you More honoured in the breach than in the observance Much Ado about Nothing My salad days Neither a borrower nor a lender be Night owl No more cakes and ale? Now is the winter of our discontent O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo Off with his head Oh, that way madness lies Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more Out of the jaws of death Pound of flesh Primrose path Rhyme nor reason Salad days Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything Screw your courage to the sticking place Send him packing Set your teeth on edge Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Short shrift Shuffle off this mortal coil Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em Something is rotten in the state of Denmark Star crossed lovers Stiffen the sinews Stony hearted Such stuff as dreams are made on The course of true love never did run smooth The crack of doom The Devil incarnate The game is afoot The game is up The quality of mercy is not strained The Queen's English The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on There's method in my madness Thereby hangs a tale This is the short and the long of it This is very midsummer madness This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle Though this be madness, yet there is method in it Thus far into the bowels of the land To be or not to be, that is the question To gild refined gold, to paint the lily To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub Too much of a good thing Truth will out Under the greenwood tree Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown Up in arms Vanish into thin air We few, we happy few, we band of brothers We have seen better days Wear your heart on your sleeve What a piece of work is man What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions Where the bee sucks, there suck I While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil! Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure Wild goose chase Woe is me