William Shakespeare

The melancholy Jaques compares life to a play in seven acts, from baby to old age. It is a witty, gloomy view of life that the play quietly answers.

Polonius declares that being brief is the essence of intelligence, in the middle of one of the longest-winded speeches in the play. “Wit” meant good sense, not just humor.

Caesar tells his wife that cowards suffer death over and over in their fears, while the brave face it only once. He says it on the morning he is murdered.

A joke turned into a proverb: even a father may not truly know his child. Shakespeare reverses the older saying that it is a wise child who knows its own father.

Shakespeare defines true love as constant: it does not change when circumstances change, and it does not fade with time or age.

Don't borrow money and don't lend it, because a loan can cost you both the money and the friend, and borrowing makes you careless with what you have.

Richard says the winter of the family's unhappiness has been turned into glorious summer by his brother, King Edward IV. The famous half-line is usually quoted as if it meant the opposite.

Juliet asks why Romeo has to be a Montague, the son of her family's enemy. “Wherefore” means “why,” not “where.”

The poet decides the beloved is better than a summer's day, which is too short and changeable, and promises that the poem itself will keep their beauty alive forever.

Lysander comforts Hermia, whose father forbids their marriage, by saying true love has always faced obstacles. It is a promise that trouble does not mean love is false.

Watching a play, Queen Gertrude says the actress playing a queen promises too much love and loyalty to be believed. “Protest” meant “vow,” not “object.”

Polonius's parting advice to his son Laertes: be honest with yourself, and you will be honest with others. It is good advice from a character who rarely follows it.

Hamlet asks whether it is better to live and endure life's suffering or to die and end it, and concludes that fear of what comes after death keeps people going.