Shakespeare's Words & Phrases

Even though William Shakespeare wrote over 400 years ago, we continue to use words and phrases found in his sonnets and plays. You could be quoting Shakespeare without knowing it. Read on to learn more phrases that we attribute to Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare's Phrases

These phrases are often attributed to Shakespeare:

All that glitters isn't gold (The Merchant of Venice)
All's well that ends well (All's Well that Ends Well)
Bated breath (The Merchant of Venice)
To be-all and the end-all (Macbeth)
To beggar description (Antony and Cleopatra)
Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew)
We have seen better days (As You Like It)
A blinking idiot (The Merchant of Venice)
Brave new world (The Tempest)
Brevity is the soul of wit (Hamlet)
The clothes make the man (Hamlet)
Cruel to be kind (Hamlet)
A dish fit for the Gods (Julius Caesar)
It's Greek to me (Julius Caesar)
He hath eaten me out of house and home (Henry IV Part 2)
Foregone conclusion (Othello)
In my heart of hearts (Hamlet)
Jealousy is the green-eyed monster (Othello)
Laid on with a trowel (As You Like It)
Melted into thin air (The Tempest)
Neither rhyme nor reason (The Comedy of Errors)
Not slept one wink (Cymbeline)
Own flesh and blood (Hamlet)
Short shrift (Richard III)
Something wicked this way comes (Macbeth)
Star-crossed lovers (Romeo and Juliet)
Sterner stuff (Julius Caesar)
Too much of a good thing (As You Like It)
A tower of strength (Richard III)
Wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello)
Wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet)
What's done is done (Macbeth)
The world is my oyster (The Merry Wives of Windsor)