WORDS AND PHRASES COMMONLY USED IN
ENGLISH COINED BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All our yesterdays
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)
All’s well that ends well
As good luck would have it
(Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, scene 5)
The better part of valor is discretion
Falstaff:
The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have sav'd my life
(Henry The Fourth, Part 1 Act 5, scene 4)
Neither a borrower nor a lender be
Polonius:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
(Hamlet Act 1, scene 3)
Break the ice
TRANIO
(as LUCENTIO) If it be so, sir, that you are the man
Must stead us all, and me amongst the rest,
And if you break the ice and do this feat,
(The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1, scene 2)
Brevity is the soul of wit
Polonius:
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, (…)
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. . . .
(Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2)
Comparisons are odorous
VERGES
Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an
old man and no honester than I.
DOGBERRY
Comparisons are odorous: palabras, neighbour Verges.
(Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, scene 5)
Dead as a doornail
JACK CADE:
Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five
men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never
eat grass more.
(King Henry VI. Part II(Act 4, scene 10)
Dog will have his day
HAMLET
Hear you, sir.
What is the reason that you use me thus?
I loved you ever. But it is no matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew and dog will have his day.
(Hamlet, Act 5, scene 1)
Forever and a day
ROSALIND: Now tell me how long you would have her after you have
possessed her.
ORLANDO :Forever and a day.
ROSALIND : Say “a day” without the “ever”.
(As You Like It, Act 4, scene 1)
Foregone conclusion
OTHELLO:
But this denoted a foregone conclusion:
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
(Othello, Act 3, scene 3)
The game is up
Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd,
They take for natural father. The game is up.”
(Cymbeline, Act 3, scene 3
It was Greek to me
CASCA Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the
face again: but those that understood him smiled at
one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own
part, it was Greek to me.
(Julius Caesar, Act 1, scene 2)
Kill with kindness
(Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, scene 1)
My kingdom for a horse
KING RICHARD III
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
(Richard III, Act 3, scene 4)
Ill wind which blows no man to good
FALSTAFF
What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
PISTOL
Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.
(Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, scene 3)
In a pickle
ALONSO
How camest thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last
(The Tempest, Act 1, scene 1)
Knock knock! Who’s there?
PORTER
Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i' th' name of Beelzebub?
(Macbeth, Act 2, scene 3)
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
There is no other shelter hereabouts. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
(The Tempest, Act 2, scene 2)
More sinned against than sinning
LEAR
I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
(King Lear, Act 3, scene 2)
One that loved not wisely but too well
OTHELLO
Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well.
(Othello, Act 5, scene 2)
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2)
Pomp and circumstance
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
(Othello Act 3, scene 3)
Pound of flesh
PORTIA
A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine.
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
(The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, scene 1)
The short and the long of it
It’s the long and the short of it
(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, scene 2)
Truth will out
LAUNCELOT
Nay, indeed if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me.
It is a wise father that knows his own child.
Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son.
Give me your blessing. Truth will come to light.
Murder cannot be hid long—a man’s son may, but in the end truth will out.
(The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, scene)
Wear my heart upon my sleeve
IAGO
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.
In following him, I follow but myself.
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
(Othello, Act 1, scene 1)
What the dickens
Mrs.
I cannot tell what the dickens his name is
(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, scene 2)
What’s done is done
Things without all remedy
Should be without regard. What’s done is done.
(Macbeth, Act 3, scene 2)
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell
as sweet
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2)
MERCUTIO
Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wildgoose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there
for the goose?
(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 4)
The world’s my oyster
Pistol:
Why then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.
(Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, scene 2)