Hamlet by Shakespeare

(New York: Arden Shakespeare, 1600/1997), 574

  • "A little more than kin, and less than kind" (Act I, Scene II)
  • "Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems'". (Act I, Scene II, cf. Yoda)
  • "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Act I, Scene II)
  • "His will is not his own. For he himself is subject to his birth." (Act I, Scene III)
  • "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel." (Act I, Scene III)
  • "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment." (Act I, Scene III)
  • "Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dully the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true." (Act I, Scene III)
  • Debasement: "Think yourself a baby that you have ta'en these tenders for true pay which are not sterling." (Act I, Scene III)
  • Phrases to use: "It is a custom more honor'd in the breach than the observance." (Act I, Scene IV)
  • "Angels and ministers of grace defend us." (Act I, Scene IV)
  • "Deprive your sovereignty of reason" (Act I, Scene IV)
  • "Unhand me gentlemen" (Act I, Scene IV)
  • "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Heaven will direct it." (Act I, Scene IV)
  • "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Act I, Scene V)
  • Phrases to use: "They have a plentiful lack of wit" (Act II, Scene II)
  • "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (Act II, Scene II)
  • "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." (Act II, Scene II) ^a615a6
  • "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...and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all." (Act III, Scene I)
  • "Get thee to a nunnery. Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?...be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow" (Act III, Scene I)
  • "O woe is me" (Act III, Scene I)
  • "Madness in great ones must not unwach'd go." (Act III, Scene I)
  • "Call me what instrument you will, though you fret me, you cannot play upon me." (Act III, Scene II)
  • Focus: "And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, and both neglect." (Act III, Scene III)
  • Negligent Prayer: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go." (Act III, Scene III)
  • "O shame, where is thy blush?" (Act III, Scene IV)
  • "I must be cruel only to be kind." (Act III, Scene IV)
  • "His liberty is full of threats to all" (Act IV, Scene I)
  • "Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table. That's the end." (Act IV, Scene III)
  • "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." (Act IV, Scene V)
  • "I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery." (Act V, Scene II)
  • "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." (Act V, Scene II)

Topic: Plays

Source:

  • UA Library book sale

Created: 2022-04-09-Sat
Updated: 2023-03-16-Thu