Phrases we have taken or adapted or forgotten from Shakespeare
More comprehensive lists here, here, and here. I tried to stick with phrases that originated with Shakespeare, but some of these may not have.
A
“it’s all one to me”
Troilus and Cressida, Act I, scene i
Pandarus: “But what care I? I care not an she were a black-a-moor; ’tis all one to me.”
…and to computers: it’s all ones and zeros
“Alas, poor Yorick!”
Hamlet, Act V, scene i
Hamlet: “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy”
…cue black page of mourning
“All the world’s a stage”
As You Like It, Act II, scene vii
Jaques: “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,” goes into the seven ages of man
…another way of saying the same thing: “That’s all anyone ever does—play parts” (Firefly)
“All’s well that ends well”
All’s Well That Ends Well (and) Act IV, scene iv
Helena
…that’s easy to say at the end
“as good luck would have it”
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III, scene v
Falstaff
“as merry as the day is long”
Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, scene i
Beatrice: “and there live we as merry as the day is long.”
…can you be as short as the day is long? the wait at the DMV is as long as the day is long.
B
“bated breath”
The Merchant of Venice, Act I, scene iii
Shylock: “Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key,/ With bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness,/ Say this…”
…”bated” not “baited” it’s related to “abate” not fish “bait”
“brave new world”
The Tempest, Act V, scene i
Miranda: “How many goodly creatures are there here!/ How beauteous mankind is!/ O brave new world/ That hath such people in’t!”
“breathe life into a stone”
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act II, scene i
Lafew: “I have seen a medicine/ That’s able to breathe life into a stone,/ Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary”
…”God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”—Genesis 2:7
“brevity is the soul of wit”
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
Polonius: “Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,/ And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,/ I will be brief. Your noble son is mad”
…dear Polonius, tact is the soul of kindness (or discretion is the better part of valor)
C
“chaos is come again”
Othello, Act III, scene iii
Othello: “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul/ But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,/ Chaos is come again.”
…talk about foreboding
“come what may”
MacBeth, Act I, scene iii
MacBeth: “Come what come may/ Time and the hour runs through the roughest day”
…”vaille que vaille” in French (”somehow or other” “after a fashion” “come what may”); “que sera sera” in Spanish (”what will be, will be”)
“cowards die many times before their deaths”
Julius Caesar, Act II, scene ii
Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths,/ The valiant never taste of death but once”
“cruel to be kind”
Hamlet Act III, scene iv
Hamlet: “I must be cruel only to be kind./ This bad begins and worse remains behind.”
…and, according to Nick Lowe, “Cruel to be kind means that I love you”
“a charmed life”
MacBeth, Act V, scene viii
MacBeth: “I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,/ To one of woman born.”
“the course of true love is not smooth”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, scene i
Lysander: “Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,/ Could ever hear by tale or history,/ The course of true love never did run smooth;”
…Like the song goes, “Some say love, it is a river”—tumultuous, rough rapids
D
“a dish fit for the gods”
Julius Caesar, Act II, scene i
Brutus: “Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;/ Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods”Pelops
“discretion is the better part of valor”
Henry IV, Part I, Act V, scene iv
Falstaff: “The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life”
…so the fellows in Monty Python got it right: “Run away. Run away!”
“the Devil incarnate”
Henry V, Act II, scene iii
Boy: “Yes, that a’ did; and said they were devils/ incarnate.”
Titus Andronicus, Act V, scene i
Lucius: “O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil/ That robb’d Andronicus of his good hand;”
“dusty death”
Macbeth, Act V, scene v
MacBeth: “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/ The way to dusty death”
E
“eaten out of house and home”
Henry IV, Part II, Act II, scene i
Mistress Quickly: “He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his”
…which is more easily digestible: brick or wood?
“Et tu, Brute?”
Julius Caesar, Act III, scene i
Caesar
…I used to get this confused with “en garde, touché,” (when I was a little kid and into imaginary fencing for some reason) and thought all of the above were appropriate to say when dueling
F
“a foregone conclusion”
Othello, Act III, scene iii
Othello: “But this denoted a foregone conclusion.”
…another foregone conclusion: there’s no such thing as a foregone conclusion… unless your play has “tragedy” in the title
“fancy free”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II, scene i
Oberon: “In maiden meditation, fancy-free.”
…what about footloose?
“fight fire with fire”
The Life and Death of King John, Act V, scene i
Bastard: “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;/ Threaten the threatener and outface the brow/ Of bragging horror”
…things more useful for fighting fire: water, dirt
“forever and a day”
The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, scene iv
Biondello: “But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.”
…that’s far too long
“fortune’s fool”
Romeo And Juliet, Act III, scene i
Romeo: “O, I am fortune’s fool!”
King Lear, Act IV, scene vi
Lear: “I am even/ The natural fool of fortune.”
Timon of Athens, Act III, scene vi
Timon: “You fools of fortune”
though supposedly, “fortune favors fools”
“frailty, thy name is woman”
Hamlet, Act I, scene ii
Hamlet
…for this alone, he almost deserves his fate
G
“it’s Greek to me”
Julius Caesar, Act I, scene ii
Casca: “but those that understood him smiled at one another, and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.”
…”it’s Old English to me” “it’s Ancient Babylonian to me”
“green-eyed monster”
Othello, Act III, scene iii
Iago: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;/ It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on”
“the game is afoot”
Henry IV, Part I, Act I, scene iii
Northumberland: “Before the game is afoot, thou still let’st slip.”
“the game is up”
Cymbeline, Act III, scene iii
Belarius
H
“heart’s content”
Henry VI, Part II, Act I, scene i
King: “Such is the Fulnesse of my hearts content.”
The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene iv
Iessi: “I wish your Ladiship all hearts content”
“wear my heart upon my sleeve”
Othello, Act I, scene i
Iago: “For when my outward action doth demonstrate/ The native act and figure of my heart/ In compliment extern, ’tis not long after/ But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve/ For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.”
“in my heart of hearts”
Hamlet, Act III, scene ii
Hamlet: “In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,”
…how many hearts do you have?
“the head that wears the crown”
Henry IV, Part II, Act III, scene i
King Henry: “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”
I
“infinite jest”
Hamlet, Act V, scene i
Hamlet: “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy”
“into thin air”
Othello, Act III, scene i
Clown: “Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I’ll away. Go; vanish into air; away!”
The Tempest, Act IV, scene i
Prospero: “These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air”
J
“the jaws of death”
Twelfth Night, Act III, scene iv
Antonio: “This youth that you see here/ I snatch’d one half out of the jaws of death”
…luckily in modern times we also have the jaws of life
K
“a king of infinite space”
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
Hamlet: “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space—were it not that I have bad dreams.”
…Hamlet loves his “infinites”
L
“the lady doth protest too much”
Hamlet, Act III, scene ii
Queen Gertrude
…”no you do” (I zinged her.)
“one that loved not wisely but too well”
Othello, Act V, scene ii
Othello: “Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,/ Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak/ Of one that lov’d not wisely but too well;”
“life’s but a walking shadow”
Macbeth, Act V, scene v
MacBeth: “Out, out, brief candle!/ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,/ And then is heard no more.”
“the long and short of it”
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, scene ii
Mistress Quickly: “the short and the long of it”
M
“my kingdom for a horse”
Richard III, Act V, scene iv
King Richard III: “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”
…other bad trades: your birthright for bread and stew (Genesis 25:29-34)
“in my mind’s eye”
Hamlet, Act I, scene ii
Hamlet
“if music be the food of love, play on”
Twelfth Night, Act I, scene i
Duke Orsino
…and if it’s not?
“a ministering angel”
Hamlet, Act V, scene i
Laertes: “A ministering angel shall my sister be,/ When thou liest howling.”
…other types of angels: guardian, messenger, baby boys in diapers (not to be confused with Cupid—god not angel—or actual little boys in diapers)
“more sinned against than sinning”
King Lear, Act III, scene ii
Lear: “I am a man/ More sinn’d against than sinning.”
…that’s what they all say (they = crazy kings)
“more in sorrow than in anger”
Hamlet, Act I, scene ii
Horatio: “A countenance more/ In sorrow than in anger.”
“much ado about nothing”
Much Ado About Nothing
!
“method in my madness”
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
Polonius: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
N
“nothing can come of nothing”
King Lear, Act I, scene i
Lear
O
“one fell swoop”
MacBeth, Act IV, scene iii
Macduff [upon hearing his family was killed]: “What, all my pretty chickens and their dam/ At one fell swoop?”
…not “foul”–there’s plenty fair and foul in MacBeth already, it’s a “fell” swoop.
“once more unto the breach”
Henry V, Act V, scene iii
King Henry V: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”
P
“a plague on both your houses”
Romeo and Juliet, Act III, scene i
Mercutio: “A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped.”
…less-vengeful last words: “That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.”—Lou Costello
“parting is such sweet sorrow”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii
Juliet: “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,/ That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
Q
“the quality of mercy is not strained”
The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, scene i
Portia: “The quality of mercy is not strain’d,/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven”
R
“rhyme or reason”
The Comedy of Errors, Act II, scene ii
Dromio: “Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,/ When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme nor reason?”
As You Like It, Act III, scene ii
Orlando: “Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.”
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, scene v
Falstaff: “in despite of the teeth of all/ rhyme and reason”
S
“a sea change”
The Tempest, Act I, scene ii
Ariel: “Nothing of him that doth fade/ But doth suffer a sea-change/ Into something rich and strange.”
“a sorry sight”
Macbeth, Act II, scene ii
MacBeth [looking on his hands]: “This is a sorry sight.” and Lady MacBeth: “A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.”
“salad days”
Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, scene v
Cleopatra: “My salad days,/ When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,”
…”green in judgment” or “green with envy”—I always think of Kermit, who is none of these things
“the slings and arrows of fortune”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question:/ Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ And by opposing end them?”
…fortune seems a might violent, it also favors fools, I’ve heard
“shuffle off this mortal coil”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To die, to sleep;/ To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,”
“something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
Hamlet, Act I, scene iv
Marcellus
“such stuff as dreams are made on”
The Tempest, Act IV, scene i
Prospero: “We are such stuff/ As dreams are made on; and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep.”
“sweets to the sweet”
Hamlet, Act V, scene i
Queen [Scattering flowers]: “Sweets to the sweet, farewell!/ I hop’d thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife:”
…this really doesn’t mean what it used to, does it? this ain’t your grandparents “sweets to the sweet”
“strange bedfellows”
The Tempest, Act II, scene ii
Trinculo: “there is no other shelter hereabout: misery/ acquaints a man with strange bedfellows”
…sometimes it doesn’t even take misery
“sound and fury”
Macbeth, Act V, scene v
MacBeth: “[Life] is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.”
T
“thereby hangs a tale”
The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, scene i
Grumio
As You Like It, Act II, scene vii
Jaques
Othello, Act III, scene i
Clown
“that way madness lies”
King Lear, Act III, scene iv
Lear: “O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;/ No more of that.”
…too late
“to thine own self be true”
Hamlet, Act I, scene iii
Polonius: “This above all: to thine own self be true,”
“to be or not to be”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question:/ Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ And by opposing end them?”
“to sleep perchance to dream”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To die, to sleep;/ To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,”
“there’s the rub”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To die, to sleep;/ To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,”
“a thousand times good night”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii
Juliet
“tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”
Macbeth, Act V, scene v
MacBeth: “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,/ Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,/ To the last syllable of recorded time;”
“truth will out”
The Merchant of Venice, Act II, scene ii
Launcelot Gobbo: “Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may; but, in the end, truth will out.”
“too much of a good thing”
As You Like It, Act IV, scene i
Rosalind: “Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”
…that’s un-possible!
“a tale told by an idiot”
Macbeth, Act V, scene v
MacBeth: “[Life] is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.”
W
“what’s in a name?” and “a rose by any other name”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii
Juliet: “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet;”
“the winter of our discontent”
Richard III, Act I, scene i
Gloucester: “Now is the winter of our discontent/ Made glorious summer by this sun of York;”
“what dreams may come”
Hamlet, Act III, scene i
Hamlet: “To die, to sleep;/ To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,”
“the worm turns”
Henry VI, Part III, Act II, scene ii
Clifford: “the smallest worm will turn, being trodden on”
…imagine being attacked by an earthworm—such stuff nightmares are made on
“we few, we happy few, we band of brothers”
Henry V, Act IV, scene iii
Henry V
“wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii
Juliet
…”why” not “where” in case you missed that day in class
“what a piece of work is man”
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how/ infinite in faculties”
…indeed
“who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure”
The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, scene ii
Katherine
“wild goose chase”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene iv
Mercutio: “Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five”
…duck duck goose?
“the world’s my oyster”
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, scene ii
Pistol: “Why then the world’s mine oyster,/ Which I with sword will open.”
…oysters smell bad and don’t always have pearls in them
“what fools these mortals be”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, scene ii
Puck
…indeed, again