William Shakespeare Quotes About Birds

• It was a lover and his lass,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
  That o'er the green corn-field did pass,
  In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
  When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
  Sweet lovers love the spring.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Spring, Bird

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 5, sc. 3, l. [18]

• But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on, Leaving no tract behind.

  William Shakespeare

  Eagles, Bird, Leaving

  William Shakespeare, Edmond Malone, James Boswell, Mr. Theobald (Lewis), Samuel Johnson (1821). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators”, p.148

• We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it Their perch, and not their terror.

  William Shakespeare

  Law, Bird, Shapes

  'Measure for Measure' (1604) act 2, sc. 1, l. 1

• When daffodils begin to peer,
  With heigh! the doxy, over the dale,
  Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
  For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
  The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
  With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing!
  Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;
  For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Kings, Spring

  'The Winter's Tale' (1610-1) act 4, sc. 2, l. 1

• To this urn let those repair
  That are either true or fair;
  For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

  William Shakespeare

  Prayer, Bird, Fairness

  William Shakespeare, Edmond Malone, Samuel Johnson (1840). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare: With Notes Critical, Historical and Explanatory, Selected from the Most Eminent Commentators”, p.942

• The Brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing, and think it were not night.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Eye, Night

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.812

• No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too, Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out; And take upon's the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out, In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, That ebb and flow by the moon.

  William Shakespeare

  Wall, Butterfly, Blessing

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 5, sc. 3, l. 8

• In springtime, the only pretty ring time Birds sing, hey ding A-ding, a-ding Sweet lovers love the spring—

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Spring, Bird

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 5, sc. 3, l. [18]

• King Henry: But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, And what a pitch she flew above the rest! To see how God in all his creatures works! Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. Suffolk: No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protectors hawks do tower so well; They know their masters loves to be aloft, And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. Gloucester: My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Men, Climbing

  William Shakespeare (1838). “Complete Works: With Dr. Johnson's Preface, a Glossary, and an Account of Each Play, and a Memoir of the Author by William Harness”, p.478

• Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odour and in hue Could make me any summer's story tell, Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew; Nor did I wonder at the lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose; They were but sweet, but figures of delight, Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.

  William Shakespeare

  Summer, Sweet, Flower

  William Shakespeare, William George CLARK, William Aldis Wright (1866). “The Globe Edition. The Works of William Shakespeare, Edited by W. G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright”, p.1040

• Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait,
  His day's hot task hath ended in the west:
  The owl, night's herald, shrieks-'tis very late;
  The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest;
  And coal-black clouds, that shadow heaven's light,
  Do summon us to part, and bid good night.

  William Shakespeare

  Good Night, Goodnight, Clouds

  William Shakespeare, Katherine Duncan-Jones, H. R. Woudhuysen (2007). “Poems: Third Series”, p.178, Cengage Learning EMEA

• Not an angel of the air,
  Bird melodious or bird fair,
  Be absent hence!

  William Shakespeare

  Angel, Air, Bird

  William Shakespeare (2015). “The Two Noble Kinsmen”, p.3, Courier Dover Publications

• Under the greenwood tree, Who loves to lie with me And tune his merry note, Unto the sweet bird's throat; Come hither, come hither, come hither. Here shall he see No enemy But winter and rough weather.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Lying, Winter

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 2, sc. 5, l. 1

• Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, Her ashes new-create another heir As great in admiration as herself.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Phoenix, Bird

  'Henry VIII' (1613) act 5, sc. 5, l. 40

• Tis but a base, ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

  William Shakespeare

  Bird, Mind, Aspiration

  William Shakespeare, Ronald Knowles (1999). “King Henry VI Part 2: Third Series”, p.424, Cengage Learning EMEA

• Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
  To lie that way thou goest, not whence thou com'st.
  Suppose the singing birds musicians,
  The grass whereon thou tread'st the presence strewed,
  The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more
  Than a delight measure or a dance;
  For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
  The man that mocks at it and sets it light.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Flower, Men

  William Shakespeare, Charles R. Forker (2002). “King Richard II: Third Series”, p.231, Cengage Learning EMEA

• The eagle suffers little birds to sing.

  William Shakespeare

  Power, Eagles, Bird

  1592 Tamora to Saturninus.Titus Andronicus, act 4, sc.4, l.83-6.

• The bird that hath been limed in a bush, with trembling wings misdoubteth every bush.

  William Shakespeare

  Wings, Bird, Trembling

  William Shakespeare (2013). “The Wars of the Roses In Plain and Simple English: Includes Henry VI Parts 1 - 3 & Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V”, p.685, BookCaps Study Guides

• I heard a bird so sing, Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Thinking, Bird

  William Shakespeare, Barry Cornwall (1857). “King John. King Richard II. King Henry IV, part 1. King Henry IV, part 2. Henry V. King Henry VI, part 1. King Henry VI, part 2. King Henry VI, part 3. King Richard III. King Henry VIII. Titus Andronicus. Pericles. Glossary”, p.181

• The eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wings He can at pleasure stint their melody: Even so mayest thou the giddy men of Rome.

  William Shakespeare

  Mean, Men, Eagles

  1592 Tamora to Saturninus.Titus Andronicus, act 4, sc.4, l.83-6.

• Some say that ever 'gainst the season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor wi

  William Shakespeare

  Night, Long, Bird

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 1, l. 157

• Like a red morn that ever yet betokened,
  Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,
  Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds,
  Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.

  William Shakespeare

  Woe Unto, Bird, Sorrow

  William Shakespeare (1843). “The Poems of William Shakspere: With Facts Connected with His Life”, p.42

• For the poor wren (The most diminutive of birds) will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.

  William Shakespeare

  Fighting, Bird, Owl

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 4, sc. 2, l. 8

• That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day, As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by-and-by black night doth take away.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Twilight, Sunset

  Sonnet 73

• To be generous, guiltless, and of a free disposition is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets.

  William Shakespeare

  Generosity, Bird, Bullets

  William Shakespeare (2010). “Twelfth Night”, p.39, Broadview Press

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