William Shakespeare Quotes on Speaking (60 Quotes)



    Speak of the spring, and foison of the year;
    The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
    The other as your bounty doth appear,
    And you in every blessèd shape we know.

    Being of no power to make his wishes good His promises fly so beyond his state That what he speaks is all in debt he owes For every word.

    If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.

    he was too good to be
    Where ill men were, and was the best of all
    Amongst the rar'st of good ones- sitting sadly
    Hearing us praise our loves of Italy
    For beauty that made barren the swell'd boast
    Of him that best could speak; for feature, laming
    The shrine of Venus or straight-pight Minerva,
    Postures beyond brief nature; for condition,
    A shop of all the qualities that man
    Loves woman for; besides that hook of wiving,
    Fairness which strikes the eye-
    CYMBELINE.



    I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and
    The blind to hear him speak; matrons flung gloves,
    Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers,
    Upon him as he pass'd; the nobles bended
    As to Jove's statue, and the commons made
    A shower and thunder with their caps and shouts.

    The King would speak with Cornwall; the dear father
    Would with his daughter speak, commands her service.

    Madam, if your heart be so obdurate,
    Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,
    The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
    To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep;
    For, since the substance of your perfect self
    Is else devoted, I am but a shadow;
    And to your shadow will I make true love.


    And when love speaks, the voice of all the godsMakes heaven drowsy with the harmony.


    He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper for what his heart thinks his tongue speaks.



    The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
    Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word;
    Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue;
    Not soon provok'd, nor being provok'd soon calm'd;
    His heart and hand both open and both free;
    For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows,
    Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
    Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath;
    Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
    For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes
    To tender objects, but he in heat of action
    Is more vindicative than jealous love.



    Let me speak, sir,
    For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter
    Let none think flattery, for they'll find 'em truth.


    I never sued to friend nor enemy;
    My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
    But, now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,
    My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.

    Let them speak, If they speak more or less
    than truth, they are villains and the sons of darkness.

    Mother, for love of grace,
    Lay not that flattering unction to your soul
    That not your trespass but my madness speaks.

    Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse
    They could not speak; and so I left them both,
    To bear this tidings to the bloody King.


    Come, go with us, speak fair; you may salve so,
    Not what is dangerous present, but the los
    Of what is past.

    If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
    Then for her wealth's sake use her with more kindness;
    Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;
    Muffle your false love with some show of blindness;
    Let not my sister read it in your eye;
    Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator;
    Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty;
    Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger;
    Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted;
    Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint;
    Be secret-false.

    No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
    Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
    All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.

    I have been told so of many; but indeed an old religious
    uncle of mine taught me to speak, who was in his youth an inland
    man; one that knew courtship too well, for there he fell in love.




    Hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, cannot
    Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number- hoo!

    Whose tongue soe'er speaks false,
    Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.

    He writes brave verses, speaks brave
    words, swears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely, quite
    traverse, athwart the heart of his lover; as a puny tilter, that
    spurs his horse but on one side, breaks his staff like a noble
    goose.

    Thou lov'st me not; for, brother, if thou didst,
    Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood
    That glues my lips and will not let me speak.


    Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest, ride more than thou goest.

    If you can look into the seeds of time, And tell me which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favours nor your hate.

    She speaks much of her father; says she hears
    There's tricks i' th' world, and hems, and beats her heart;
    Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
    That carry but half sense.

    Here kennell'd in a brake she finds a hound,
    And asks the weary caitiff for his master,
    And there another licking of his wound,
    'Gainst venom'd sores the only sovereign plaster;
    And here she meets another sadly scowling,
    To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling.

    Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you -- tripping on the tongue but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.

    Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,
    An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,
    Doting like me, and like me banished,
    Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,
    And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
    Taking the measure of an unmade grave.


    Commend me to your honourable wife;
    Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
    Say how I lov'd you; speak me fair in death;
    And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
    Whether Bassanio had not once a love.


    The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

    What gone without a word Ay, so true love should do it cannot speak, for truth hath better deeds, than words, to grace it.

    Speak it again, and even with the word
    This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love,
    Shall for thy love kill a far truer love;
    To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.

    Then others for the breath of words respect,
    Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect.


    More William Shakespeare Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Love - Man - Mind - Kings & Queens - World - Time - Life - God - Friendship - Belief & Faith - Death & Dying - Heaven - War & Peace - Fairness - Fool - Night - Fear - Speaking - Soul - View All William Shakespeare Quotations

    More William Shakespeare Quotations (By Book Titles)


    - A Midsummer Night's Dream
    - As You Like It
    - Julius Caesar
    - King Lear
    - Much Ado About Nothing
    - Othello
    - The Merchant of Venice
    - The Taming of the Shrew
    - Twelfth Night

    Related Authors


    William Shakespeare - Tennessee Williams - Lady Gregory - Henry Taylor - Henry Porter - Hannah Cowley - George S. Kaufman - George Colman - Anton Chekhov - Alexandre Dumas


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