William Shakespeare Quotes About Quality

• The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Rain, Heart

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [182]

• The strawberry grows underneath the nettle And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality.

  William Shakespeare

  Food, Cooking, Quality

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.983, BookCaps Study Guides

• Do all men kill the things they do not love ............ The quality of mercy is not strain'd It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest It blesseth him that gives and him that takes

  William Shakespeare

  Rain, Men, Venice

• Dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. And I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Ambition, Light

  William Shakespeare (2001). “Hamlet”, p.155, Classic Books Company

• Come give us a taste of your quality.

  William Shakespeare

  Healing, Giving, Quality

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [460]

• The quality of mercy is not strained

  William Shakespeare

  Mercy Of God, Gentle Rain, Venice

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 4, sc. 1, l. [182]

• 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.

  William Shakespeare

  Eye, Men, Quality

  William Shakespeare (1824). “The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare”, p.678

• But I am constant as the Northern Star, Of whose true fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Quality, Firmament

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 3, sc. 1, l. 59

• This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; And to do that well craves a kind of wit: He must observe their mood on whom he jests, The quality of persons, and the time, And, like the haggard, check at every feather That comes before his eye. This is a practise As full of labour as a wise man's art For folly that he wisely shows is fit; But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit.

  William Shakespeare

  Wise, Art, Fall

  William Shakespeare (1998). “Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will”, p.156, Oxford University Press, USA

• The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself

  William Shakespeare

  Quality, Needs, Lear

  William Shakespeare, Thomas BOWDLER (F.R.S.) (1831). “The Family Shakspeare ... By T. Bowdler ... Sixth Edition”, p.789

• Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,
  You moonshine revellers, and shades of night,
  You orphan heirs of fixed destiny,
  Attend your office and your quality.

  William Shakespeare

  Night, Destiny, White

  William Shakespeare (1998). “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, p.211, Oxford University Press, USA

• Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck, And yet methinks I have astronomy. But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or season's quality; Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell ... Or say with princes if it shall go well.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Science, Evil

  William Shakespeare (2009). “Sonnets and Other Poems”, p.208, Palgrave Macmillan

• Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars
  That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
  Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
  The spirit-stirring drum, th' ear-piercing fife,
  The royal banner, and all quality,
  Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

  William Shakespeare

  War, Farewell, Ambition

  'Othello' (1602-4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 346

• Take her away; for she hath lived too long,
  To fill the world with vicious qualities.

  William Shakespeare

  Sassy, Long, Quality

  William Shakespeare (2013). “First Tetralogy In Plain and Simple English: Includes Henry VI Parts 1 - 3 & Richard III”, p.197, BookCaps Study Guides

• When thou cam'st first, Thou strok'st me and made much of me; wouldst give me Water with berries in't; and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night; and then I loved thee And showed thee all the qualities o' th' isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile.

  William Shakespeare

  Spring, Night, Light

  William Shakespeare (1998). “Four Late Plays”, p.357, Wordsworth Editions

• I see men's judgments are A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward Do draw the inward quality after them, To suffer all alike.

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Suffering, Quality

  William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, Isaac Reed, Alexander Pope (1803). “Antony and Cleopatra. King Lear”, p.184

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