Phrases from Hamlet in common English

<h2 id="act-i">Act I</h2>
<h3>Scene 1</h3>
<i>As the mote is to trouble the mind's eye</i> ("Mind's eye," though it did not originate as a phrase in this play, was popularized by Shakespeare's use of it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>)
<h3>Scene 2</h3>
<i>... all that lives must die,</i>
<i>Passing through nature to eternity.</i>
<i>Frailty, <a href="/facts/Thy_name_is/IItL3gU7">thy name is</a> woman!</i>
<h3>Scene 3</h3>
<i>...the primrose path...</i>
<i>Neither a borrower nor a lender be;</i>
<i>For the apparel oft proclaims the man</i>
<i>This above all: to thine ownself be true,</i>
<i>Giving more light than heat,...</i>
<h3>Scene 4</h3>
<i>And to the manner born, ...</i> (i.e., predisposed to the practice. This phrase is sometimes mistakenly rendered as "to the <i>manor</i> born", and used to mean 'of the privileged class”; see references for more on this one. In recent years this misconception has spread through the popularity of the British sitcom <i><a href="/facts/To_the_Manor_Born/N3zNRmoY">To the Manor Born</a></i>, the title of which was a deliberate pun on Shakespeare's phrase.)
<i>More honoured in the breach than the observance.</i> (Another misunderstood phrase, in the context (the Danes' drinking customs) it signifies that the Danes gain more honour by neglecting their drunken customs than following them; however, it has come to be used in situations where it simply means that a custom is hardly ever followed.)
<i>O, answer me!</i> (Hamlet's anguished cry to his father's <a href="/facts/Ghost/U2zPJ81t">ghost</a>)
<i>Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.</i>
<h3>Scene 5</h3>
<i>Murder most foul, ...</i>
<i>The time is out of joint ...</i>
<i>There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,</i>
<i>Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.</i>
<h2 id="act-ii">Act II</h2>
<h3>Scene 2</h3>
<p>"Caviar to the general"
</p><p>Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 431–440
</p>
<i>...brevity is the soul of wit,</i>
<i>Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't,</i>
<i>There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.</i> — (Note: this is a <a href="/facts/First_Folio/qBX9hVT5">First Folio</a> passage)
<i><a href="/facts/What_a_piece_of_work_is_a_man/lDhAeBpy">What a piece of work is a man</a>!</i>
<i>And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?</i>
<i>...an old man is twice a child.</i>
<i>... man delights not me</i>
<i>O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!</i>
<i>... and the devil hath power</i>
<i>To assume a pleasing shape;</i>
<i>...The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.</i>
<h2 id="act-iii">Act III</h2>
<h3>Scene 1</h3>
<i><a href="/facts/To_be,_or_not_to_be/QFYEB4Vv">To be, or not to be</a>: that is the question ...</i>
<i>...what dreams may come,</i> (part of last, the <a href="/facts/What_Dreams_May_Come_(film)/omA4g55d">title</a> of a <a href="/facts/Robin_Williams/k7AUJhbX">Robin Williams</a> movie.)
<i>When we have shuffled off this <a href="/facts/Mortal_coil/tmBWfoUC">mortal coil</a>,</i> (another from <a href="/facts/To_be,_or_not_to_be/QFYEB4Vv">To be, or not to be</a>)
<i>Get thee to a nunnery</i> (occurs several places in this scene)
<i>O, woe is me,</i>
<h3>Scene 2</h3>
<i><a href="/facts/Speak_the_speech/j5Kr9gWh">Speak the speech</a> ...</i>
<i>Purpose is but the slave to memory,</i>
<i><a href="/facts/The_lady_doth_protest_too_much,_methinks/NSTGj0qm">The lady doth protest too much, methinks</a>.</i>
<p>Scene 4
</p>
<i><a href="/facts/Hoist_with_his_own_petard/rkMCF6y1">Hoist with his own petard</a></i>
<i>I must be cruel, only to be kind</i> (several songs, including <a href="/facts/Cruel_to_Be_Kind/tDNHtM3h">Cruel to Be Kind</a> by <a href="/facts/Nick_Lowe/mNAhtjfK">Nick Lowe</a>)
<i>How all occasions do inform against me,</i>
<h2 id="act-v">Act V</h2>
<h3>Scene 1</h3>
<i>Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio</i> (the Horatio is often replaced with the word well, a common misquote; in the previous scene <a href="/facts/Laertes_(character)/85d9XBsr">Laertes</a> observes, <i>"I know him well..."</i>)
<i>Let Hercules himself do what he may,</i>
<i>The cat will mew and dog will have his day.</i>
<i>Will he nill he.</i>
<h3>Scene 2</h3>
<i>There's a divinity that shapes our ends,</i>
<i>Rough-hew them how we will ...</i>
<i>report me and my cause aright ... To tell my story.</i> (<a href="/facts/Prince_Hamlet/gSRl8guK">Hamlet's</a> dying request to <a href="/facts/Horatio_(character)/D0Bg55Pd">Horatio</a>)
<i>... The rest is silence.</i> (Hamlet's last words)
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
<i>...so shall you hear</i>
<i>Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,</i>
<i>Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,</i>
<i>Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,</i> (Horatio's discussion of the play's blood-bath)
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Shakespeare%27s_influence_on_the_English_language/2gYNV7k7">Shakespeare's influence on the English language</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Wikiquote has quotations related to <i>Hamlet</i>.

<p><i>Major links:</i>
</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html">Entire play</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/hamlet/">The entire play, searchable</a></li></ul>
<p><i>Minor links:</i>
</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_295b.html"><i>Straight Dope</i> on "Hoist with his own petard"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/tothemannerb.html">Note on "to the manner born"</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>In my mind's eye <a href="http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/198800.html" target="_blank">http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/198800.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Phrases from Hamlet in common English open-in-new

Phrases from Hamlet in common English