Since April 23rd is his birthday, here are 20 Shakespeare quotes that you're sure to enjoy to celebrate.



1. "This above all: to thine own self be true." ~ Hamlet

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

3. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." ~ Romeo and Juliette

4. "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come." ~ Julius Ceasar

5. "Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. ~ Hamlet

6. "Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost!" ~ Venus & Adonis

7. "There's small choice in rotten apples." ~ Taming of the Shrew

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. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell -- ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them." ~ The Tempest

9. "I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end." ~ Hamlet

10. "The miserable have no other medicine but only hope." ~ Measure for Measure

11. "True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings." ~ King Richard

12. "Whether 'tis better 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?" ~ Hamlet

13. "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." ~ Hamlet

14. "Things without all remedy should be without regard. What's done is done." ~ Macbeth

15. "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" ~ Richard III

16. "By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap to pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon, or dive into the bottom of the deep, where fathom-line could never touch the ground, and pluck up drowned honour by the locks." ~ Henry IV

17. 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

18. "Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools." ~ As You Like It

19. "Be great in act, as you have been in thought. Let not the world see fear and sad distrust govern the motion of a kingly eye. Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire." ~ King John

20. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." ~ Hamlet

Humor, depth, pain and joy -- all of these are captured in Shakespeare's writings. As Hamlet told Horatio, there are more things in heaven and earth than he could dream of, and there is more depth to Shakespear quotes than many of us will ever realize. Happy Birthday to a master!