William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an

English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in

the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often

called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. His extant works,

including some collaborations, consist of around38 plays, 154 sonnets, two

long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of

some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living

language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of

18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna,

and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a

successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing

company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men.

He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he

died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive, and

there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical

appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to

him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His

early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain

regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres. He then wrote

mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,

and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In
his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and

collaborated with other playwrights.

At this time of prolific writing, Shakespeare began his association until his
death with The Lord Chamberlain's Men., a playing company, later known as
the King’s Men. With the accession of James I they became the King's Men,
who bought and performed most of Shakespeare's plays. The troupe included
his friend and actor Richard Burbage. They performed frequently at court,
and in the theatres that Shakespeare was co-owner of including the
Blackfriars, The Theatre, and The Globe in London until it burnt down during
a performance of King Henry VIII. It is said that Shakespeare himself acted in
a number of roles including the ghost in Hamlet and Old Adam in As You Like
It. In the late 1590s he bought `New Place' on Chapel Street in Stratford,
one of his many real estate investments.

Shakespeare wrote most of his plays as `quarto texts', that being on a sheet
of paper folded four ways. A few of his plays were printed in his lifetime,
though they appeared more voluminously after his death, sometimes
plagiarised and often changed at the whim of the printer. First Folio would
be the first collection of his dramatic works, a massive undertaking to compile
thirty-six plays from the quarto texts, playbooks, transcriptions, and the
memories of actors. The approximately nine hundred page manuscript took
about two years to complete and was printed in 1623 as Mr. William
Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. It also featured on the
frontispiece the famous engraved portrait of Shakespeare said to be by
Martin Droeshout (1601-c1651).

He died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52. Anne Hathaway outlived her
husband by seven years and is buried beside him. His daughter, Susanna
married Dr John Hall, and his last surviving descendant was their daughter
Elizabeth Hall. There are no direct descendants of the poet and playwright
alive today, but the diarist John Aubrey recalls in his Brief Lives that
Shakespeare was the real father of the poet William Davenant, his godson,
who was brought up in Oxford, on the road between London and Stratford,
where Shakespeare would stay when travelling between his home and the
capital.

Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-

Avon He is believed to have written the epitaph on his tombstone. ." His
tombstone is inscribed with the following epitaph;

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare

To digg the dust encloased heare
Blessed by y man y spares hes stones
And curst be he y moves my bones

Works

His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative
poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every
major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other
playwright. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories. He then wrote
mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and
Macbeth.. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances,
and collaborated with other playwrights. In 1623, two of his former
theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his
dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as
Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own
day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the
nineteenth century.

Plays

He wrote about 38 plays, but the precise number is uncertain. Among the
most famous and critically acclaimed of Shakespeare's plays are Romeo and
Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the
Shrew, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The
Merchant of Venice and Richard III. He wrote mainly comedies influenced by
Roman and Italian models and history plays in the popular chronicle tradition.
Tragedies

Some probably inspired by Shakespeare's study of Lives by Greek historian

and essayist Plutarch and Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles. Some are reworkings
of previous stories, many based on English or Roman history. The dates given
here are when they are said to have been first performed.

Titus Andronicus first performed in 1594 (printed in 1594),

Romeo and Juliet 1594-95 (1597),
Hamlet 1600-01 (1603),
Julius Caesar 1600-01 (1623),
Othello 1604-05 (1622),
Antony and Cleopatra 1606-07 (1623),
King Lear 1606 (1608),
Coriolanus 1607-08 (1623), derived from Plutarch
Timon of Athens 1607-08 (1623), and
Macbeth 1611-1612 (1623).

Histories

Shakespeare's series of historical dramas, based on the English Kings from

John to Henry VIII were a tremendous undertaking to dramatise the lives and
rule of kings and the changing political events of his time. No other
playwright had attempted such an ambitious body of work. Some were
printed on their own or in the First Folio (1623).

King Henry VI Part 1 1592 (printed in 1594);

King Henry VI Part 2 1592-93 (1594);
King Henry VI Part 3 1592-93 (1623);
King John 1596-97 (1623);
King Henry IV Part 1 1597-98 (1598);
King Henry IV Part 2 1597-98 (1600);
King Henry V 1598-99 (1600);
Richard II 1600-01 (1597);
Richard III 1601 (1597); and
King Henry VIII 1612-13 (1623)
Comedies

He wrote mainly comedies influenced by Roman and Italian models and

history. Again listed in chronological order of performance.

Taming of the Shrew first performed 1593-94 (1623),

Comedy of Errors 1594 (1623),
Two Gentlemen of Verona 1594-95 (1623),
Love's Labour's Lost 1594-95 (1598),
Midsummer Night's Dream 1595-96 (1600),
Merchant of Venice 1596-1597 (1600),
Much Ado About Nothing 1598-1599 (1600),
As You Like It 1599-00 (1623),
Merry Wives of Windsor 1600-01 (1602),
Troilus and Cressida 1602 (1609),
Twelfth Night 1602 (1623),
All's Well That Ends Well 1602-03 (1623),
Measure for Measure 1604 (1623),
Pericles, Prince of Tyre 1608-09 (1609),
Tempest (1611),
Cymbeline 1611-12 (1623),
Winter's Tale 1611-12 (1623).

Poems

In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague,
Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and
Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley,
earl of Southampton. In Venus and Adonis, an innocent Adonis rejects the
sexual advances of Venus, while in The Rape of Lucrece, the virtuous wife
Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin. The poems show the guilt and moral
confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. Both proved popular and were
often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime.

Other poems were: A Lover's Complaint, in which a young woman laments her
seduction by a persuasive suitor; The Phoenix and the Turtle, Love's Martyr
and The Passionate Pilgrim, published under Shakespeare's name but without
his permission.

Sonnets

It is generally agreed that most of the Shakespearean Sonnets were written

in the 1590s, some printed at this time as well. Others were written or
revised right before being printed. Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the
last of Shakespeare’s non-dramatic works to be printed. They are written in
Petrarch's style where Shakespeare meditates on the nature of love, sexual
passion, procreation, mortality and death. The first 126 sonnets are
addressed to a young man, sonnets 127-152 to a dark lady. It remains
unclear if these figures represent real individuals or if the authorial “I” i.e.
Shakespeare himself. Some people believe that with the sonnets "Shakespeare
unlocked his heart”.

Shakespeare now has a reputation as the greatest writer in the English

language, as well as one of the greatest in Western literature, and the
world’s pre-eminent dramatist. In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted
writer in English-speaking and world history. His works have been translated
into every major living language, and his plays are continually performed all
around the world. Over the years, many people have speculated about
Shakespeare’s life, raising questions about his sexuality, whether he was
secretly Catholic, and debating whether someone else wrote some or all of his
plays and poetry.
 Quotes of Shakespeare

As the most quoted English writer Shakespeare has more than his share of
famous quotes. Some Shakespare famous quotes are known for their beauty,
some for their everyday truths and some for their wisdom. We often talk
about Shakespeare’s quotes as things the wise Bard is saying to us but, we
should remember that some of his wisest words are spoken by his biggest
fools. For example, both ‘neither a borrower nor a lender be,’ and ‘to thine
own self be true’ are from the foolish, garrulous and quite disreputable
Polonius in Hamlet.

Whilst it’s hard to definitively say which are Shakespeare’s more famous
quotes, we’ve examined polls published around the world and combined these
with feedback from our millions of users and our own take on Shakespeare’s
words, and can now offer what we belive to be the 50 most famous
Shakespeare quotes. So, without further ado, here are Shakespeare’s most
famous 50 quotes in no particular order:

1. ‘To be, or not to be: that is the question’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1)

2. ‘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.’

(As You Like it Act 2, Scene 7)

3. ‘Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?’

(Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)

4. ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’

(Richard III Act 1, Scene 1)

5. ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?’

(Macbeth Act 2, Scene 1)

6. ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness
thrust upon them.’

(Twelfth Night Act 2, Scene 5)

7. ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of
death but once.’

(Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 2)

8. ‘Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made. Those are
pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a
sea-change into something rich and strange.’

(The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2)

9. ‘A man can die but once.’

(Henry IV, Part 2 Act 3, Part 2)

10. ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!’

(King Lear Act 1, Scene 4)

11. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 2)

12. ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’

(The Merchant of Venice Act 3, Scene 1)

13. ‘I am one who loved not wisely but too well.’

(Othello Act 5, Scene 2)

14. ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2)

15. ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded
with a sleep.’

(The Tempest Act 4, Scene 1)

16. ‘Life’s 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 Act 5, Scene 5)

17. ‘Beware the Ides of March.’

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

18. ‘Get thee to a nunnery.’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1)

19. ‘If music be the food of love play on.’

(Twelfth Night Act 1, Scene 1)

20. ‘What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as sweet.’

(Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)

21. ‘The better part of valor is discretion’

(Henry IV, Part 1 Act 5, Scene 4)

22. ‘To thine own self be true.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3)

23. ‘All that glisters is not gold.’

(The Merchant of Venice Act 2, Scene 7)

24. ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar,
not to praise him.’

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2)

25. ‘Nothing will come of nothing.’

(King Lear Act 1, Scene 1)

26. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

27. ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

28. ‘Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war’

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 1)

29. ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’

(Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2)

30. ‘A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!’

(Richard III Act 5, Scene 4)

31. ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
in your philosophy.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 5)

32. ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged
Cupid painted blind.’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

33. ‘The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within the stars, but in ourselves, that
we are underlings.’

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

34. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’

(Sonnet 18)

35. ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.’

(Sonnet 116)

36. ‘The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with
their bones.’

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2)

37. ‘But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.’

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

38. ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and
friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3)

39. ‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’

(Hamlet Act 4, Scene 5)

40. ‘Off with his head!’

(Richard III Act 3, Scene 4)

41. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’

(Henry IV, Part 2 Act 3, Scene 1)

42. ‘Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.’

(The Tempest Act 2, Scene 2)

43. ‘This is very midsummer madness.’

(Twelfth Night Act 3, Scene 4)

44. ‘Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.’

(Much Ado about Nothing Act 3, Scene 1)

45. ‘I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.’

(The Merry Wives of Windsor Act 3, Scene 2)

46. ‘We have seen better days.’

(Timon of Athens Act 4, Scene 2)

47. ‘I am a man more sinned against than sinning.’

(King Lear Act 3, Scene 2)

48. ‘Brevity is the soul of wit.’

(Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2)

49. ‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle… This blessed plot, this
earth, this realm, this England.’

(Richard II Act 2, Scene 1)

50. ‘What light through yonder window breaks.’

Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)