William Shakespeare Quotes About Purpose

• Strong reasons make strong actions.

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Hard Work, Memorable

  William Shakespeare, James Boswell, Edmond Malone, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope (1821). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators”, p.231

• The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

  William Shakespeare

  Witty, Atheist, Memorable

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [99]

• The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Venice, Apples

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 1, sc. 3, l. [99]

• This above all; to thine own self be true.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Graduation

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 58

• Do not for one repulse, forego the purpose
  That you resolved to effect.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Healing, Purpose

  "The Oracles of Shakespeare: with a Selection of Aphorisms".

• As many arrows, loosed several ways, come to one mark...so many a thousand actions, once afoot, end in one purpose.

  William Shakespeare

  Arrows, Volunteer, Purpose

  William Shakespeare (1998). “Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations”, p.1, Courier Corporation

• Every why has a wherefore.

  William Shakespeare

  Purpose

  BookCaps, William Shakespeare (2011). “The Comedy of Errors In Plain and Simple English: BookCaps Study Guide”, p.40, BookCaps Study Guides

• See first that the design is wise and just: that ascertained, pursue it resolutely; do not for one repulse forego the purpose that you resolved to effect.

  William Shakespeare

  Wise, Memorable, Design

• The extreme parts of time extremely forms all causes to the purpose of his speed.

  William Shakespeare

  Time, Purpose, Causes

  William Shakespeare, Isaac Reed (1813). “The Plays of William Shakespeare”, p.130

• My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that color.

  William Shakespeare

  Horse, Color, Purpose

  'Twelfth Night' (1601) act 2, sc. 3, l. [184]

• With this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature.

  William Shakespeare

  Mirrors, Special, Acting

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [19]

• What we determine we often break. Purpose is but the slave to memory.

  William Shakespeare

  Determination, Memories, Purpose

• Withal I did infer your lineaments,
  Being the right idea of your father,
  Both in your form and nobleness of mind;
  Laid open all your victories in Scotland,
  Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
  Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;
  Indeed, left nothing fitting for your purpose
  Untouch'd or slightly handled in discourse.

  William Shakespeare

  Father, War, Humility

  William Shakespeare, Janis Lull (2009). “King Richard III”, p.152, Cambridge University Press

• But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.

  William Shakespeare

  Fashion, Men, Purpose

  Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities Harold Bloom, William Shakespeare (2009). “William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar”, p.132, Infobase Publishing

• Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures: ‘tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Eye, Giving

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 52

• Since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that
  the world can say against it; and therefore never floutat me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.

  William Shakespeare

  Change, Marriage, Men

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Much Ado About Nothing”, p.75, Courier Corporation

• It is the purpose that makes strong the vow; But vows to every purpose must not hold.

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Promise, Purpose

  William Shakespeare, Joseph Dennie, Samuel Johnson, Isaac Reed, George Steevens (1809). “The Plays of William Shakespeare: With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators”, p.178

• What to ourselves in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.

  William Shakespeare

  Passion, Purpose, Propose

  William Shakespeare (1793). “The Plays of William Shakspeare: In Fifteen Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators. To which are Added, Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The Fourth Edition. Revised and Augmented (with a Glossarial Index) by the Editor of Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays”, p.192

• Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not whoop at them; But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder to wait on treason and on murder; And whatsoever cunning fiend it was That wrought upon thee so preposterously Hath got the voice in hell for excellence.

  William Shakespeare

  Two, Voice, Waiting

  William Shakespeare (1995). “King Henry V: Third Series”, p.174, Cengage Learning EMEA

• The color of the king doth come and go,
  Between his purpose and his conscience,
  Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set:
  His passion is so ripe, it needs must break.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Passion, Color

  William Shakespeare, Joseph Dennie, Isaac Reed, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens (1806). “Macbeth. King John”, p.380

• There are a sort of men, whose visages
  Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
  And do a willful stillness entertain,
  With purpose to be dressed in an opinion
  Of wisdom, gravity profound conceit;
  As who should say, I am sir Oracle,
  And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!

  William Shakespeare

  Wisdom, Dog, Men

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 1, sc. 1, l. 88

• The southern wind
  Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
  And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves,
  Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.

  William Shakespeare

  Wind, Play, Southern

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.743, BookCaps Study Guides

• If wishes would prevail with me, my purpose should not fail with me.

  William Shakespeare

  Wish, Purpose, Failing

  William Shakespeare, John Payne Collier (1858). “Winter's tale. King John. King Richard II. King Henry IV, part 1. King Henry IV, part 2. Henry V. King Henry VI, part 1”, p.577

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