"We know what we are, but not what we may be."
— William Shakespeare

"Lord Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Lord Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Lord Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord."
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

"To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come..."
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

"Sorry," [Hamlet] said, rubbing his temples. "I don't know what came over me. All of a sudden I had this overwhelming desire to talk for a very long time without actually doing anything."
— Jasper Fforde

"..This goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? "
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go."
— William Shakespeare

"Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires;
(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4)"
— William Shakespeare

"We've been rehearsing a classic from antiquity, Green Eggs and Hamlet, the story of a young prince of Denmark who goes mad, drowns his girlfriend, and in his remorse, forces spoiled breakfast on all whom he meets."
— Christopher Moore (Fool: A Novel)

"There's something rotten in the state of Denmark, and Hamlet says...it's payback time!"
— Jasper Fforde (Something Rotten)

"I explain this to Jeeves and he said the same thing had bothered Hamlet."
— P.G. Wodehouse

""Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.""
— William Shakepeare

"To each our own Hamlet."
— Jasper Fforde (Something Rotten)

"He dodged remarkably fast for a melancholy introvert."
— Lisa Mantchev (Eyes Like Stars)

"...The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.""
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

"The Devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape."
— William Shakespeare

"Doubt thou, the Stars are fire,
Doubt that the Sun doth move,
Doubt Truth to be a liar,
But never doubt, I love."
— William Shakespeare

"Frailty, thy name is woman!"
— William Shakespeare

"O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I
have bad dreams."
— William Shakespeare

"When troubles come, they come not single spies, but in battalions..."
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

"Doubt though, the Stars are fire,
Doubt that the Sun doth move,
Doubt Truth to be a liar,
But never doubt, I love."
— William Shakespeare

"HAMLET- Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service— two dishes, but to one table. That's the end.

CLAUDIUS- Alas, alas!

HAMLET- A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

CLAUDIUS- What dost you mean by this?

HAMLET- Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

"
— William Shakespeare (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."
— William Shakespeare

"Doubt thou, the Stars are fire,
Doubt that the Sun doth move,
Doubt Truth to be a liar,
But never doubt, I love."
— William Shapespeare