William Shakespeare Quotes About Desire

• Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things . . . nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.

  William Shakespeare

  Drinking, Sleep, Alcohol

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [28]

• Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Halloween, Dark

  William Shakespeare, Isaac Reed, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (1817). “The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Dr. Johnson, G. Steevens, and Others”, p.279

• Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' Like the poor cat i' the adage?

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Cat, Waiting

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 35

• I do desire we may be better strangers.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Desire, May

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [276]

• Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Years, Age

  'Henry IV, Part 2' (1597) act 2, sc. 4, l. [283]

• it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance

  William Shakespeare

  Drinking, Alcohol, Desire

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [28]

• Being your slave what should I do but tend, Upon the hours, and times of your desire? I have no precious time at all to spend; Nor services to do till you require.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Heart, Desire

  Sonnet 57

• At Christmas I no more desire a rose
  Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
  But like of each thing that in season grows.

  William Shakespeare

  Christmas, Time, Xmas

  'Love's Labour's Lost' (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 105

• Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires: The eyes wink at the hand; yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Eye, Fire

  William Shakespeare (2015). “Macbeth: Third Series”, p.152, Bloomsbury Publishing

• Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Love You, Knowledge

  'As You Like It' (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. [301]

• The will is infinite and the execution confin'd, the desire is boundless and the act a slave to limit.

  William Shakespeare

  Lust, Desire, Limits

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Troilus and Cressida In Plain and Simple English: A Modern Translation and the Original Version”, p.133, BookCaps Study Guides

• How slow
  This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
  Like to a stepdame, or a dowager,
  Long withering out a young man's revenue.

  William Shakespeare

  Moon, Men, Long

  William Shakespeare (2017). “A Midsummer Night's Dream: Arden Performance Editions”, p.105, Bloomsbury Publishing

• Can one desire too much of a good thing?

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Desire, Too Much

  William Shakespeare (1860). “As You Like it”, p.79

• It provokes the desire but it takes away the performance. Therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him and it mars him; it sets him on and it takes him off.

  William Shakespeare

  Alcohol, Desire, Mars

  Macbeth II. 3

• I pray you bear me henceforth from the noise and rumour of the field, where I may think the remnant of my thoughts in peace, and part of this body and my soul with contemplation and devout desires.

  William Shakespeare

  Memorable, Thinking, Soul

• Every man has business and desire, Such as it is.

  William Shakespeare

  Business, Memorable, Men

  William Shakespeare (1720). “A Collection of the Best English Plays, Chosen Out of All the Best Authors..: Vol. I.”, p.28

• I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends.

  William Shakespeare

  Real, Desire, Way

  William Shakespeare (1823). “The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, from the Text of Johnson, Stevens and Reed. With Glossarial Notes, His Life, and a Critique on His Genius and Writings, by N. Rowe”, p.19

• What? do I love her, that I desire to hear her speak again, and feast upon her eyes

  William Shakespeare

  Love You, Eye, Desire

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Making Sense of Measure for Measure! a Students Guide to Shakespeare's Play (Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelli”, p.113, BookCaps Study Guides

• At Christmas, I no more desire a rose.

  William Shakespeare

  Christmas, Rose, Desire

  'Love's Labour's Lost' (1595) act 1, sc. 1, l. 105

• God send everyone their heart's desire!

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Teenager, Heart

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Much Ado About Nothing Simplified!: Includes Study Guide, Biography, and Modern Retelling”, p.189, BookCaps Study Guides

• Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie,
  And young affection gapes to be his heir;
  That fair for which love groan'd for and would die,
  With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Desire, Heirs

  William Shakespeare (1809). “The plays of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustr. of various commentators, to which are added notes by S. Johnson and G. Steevens, revised and augmented by I. Reed, with a glossarial index”, p.258

• It is that fery person for all the orld, as just as you will desire; and seven hundred pounds of moneys, and gold, and silver, is her grandsire upon his death's-bed-Got deliver to a joyful resurrections!

  William Shakespeare

  Gold, Desire, Pounds

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Comedies of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.2321, BookCaps Study Guides

• My love is as a fever, longing still
  For that which longer nurseth the disease,
  Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
  Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please.
  My reason, the physician to my love,
  Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
  Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
  Desire is death, which physic did except.

  William Shakespeare

  Famous Love, Love Is, Desire

  1609 Sonnets, sonnet 147.

• Desire of having is the sin of covetousness.

  William Shakespeare

  Desire, Sin, Covetousness

  William Shakespeare (1752). “The Works of Shakespeare”, p.166

• Is it thy will, thy image should keep open My heavy eyelids to the weary night? Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken, While shadows like to thee do mock my sight? Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee So far from home into my deeds to pry, To find out shames and idle hours in me, The scope and tenor of thy jealousy? O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great: It is my love that keeps mine eye awake: Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, To play the watchman ever for thy sake: For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere, From me far off, with others all too near.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Eye, Home

  William Shakespeare (1838). “The Pictorial edition of the works of Shakspere, ed. by C. Knight. [8 vols., including a vol. entitled William Shakspere, by C. Knight].”

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