William Shakespeare Quotes About Suffering

• A little fire is quickly trodden out, Which, being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench.

  William Shakespeare

  Fire, Rivers, Suffering

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.510

• To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Suicide, Dream

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

• Now 'tis spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now and they'll o'ergrow the garden.

  William Shakespeare

  Weed, Spring, Garden

  William Shakespeare, Ronald Knowles (1999). “King Henry VI Part 2: Third Series”, p.232, Cengage Learning EMEA

• We suffer a lot the few things we lack and we enjoy too little the many things we have.

  William Shakespeare

  Suffering, Littles, Enjoy

• Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Sea, Arrows

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

• Full fathom five thy father lies;
  Of his bones are coral made;
  Those are pearls that were his eyes;
  Nothing of him that doth fade,
  But doth suffer a sea-change
  Into something rich and strange.
  Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
  Ding-dong.
  Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Father, Eye

  'The Tempest' (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 394

• I have not slept. Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream: The Genius and the mortal instruments Are then in council; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Men, Suffering

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 2, sc. 1, l. 63

• Care for us! True, indeed! They ne'er cared for us yet: suffer us to famish, and their storehouses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich, and provide more piercing statutes daily to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there's all the love they bear us.

  William Shakespeare

  War, Support, Suffering

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Coriolanus”, p.3, Courier Corporation

• Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, That sees into the bottom of my grief?

  William Shakespeare

  Grief, Grieving, Clouds

  'Romeo And Juliet' (1595) act 3, sc. 5, l. 198

• I do oppose
  My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
  To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
  The very tyranny and rage of his.

  William Shakespeare

  Patience, Suffering, Arms

  William Shakespeare (1863). “The Works of William Shakespeare”, p.343

• A true repentance shuns the evil itself, more than the external suffering or the shame.

  William Shakespeare

  Evil, Suffering, Shame

  William Shakespeare, Capel Lofft (1812). “Aphorisms from Shakespeare”, p.250

• Better be with the dead,
  Whom we to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
  Than on the torture of the mind to lie
  In restless ecstasy.

  William Shakespeare

  Lying, Anxiety, Mind

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 11

• He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer The worst that man can breathe, and make his wrongs His outsides, to wear them like his raiment, carelessly, And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart, To bring it into danger.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Men, Suffering

  William Shakespeare (2011). “Titus Andronicus and Timon of Athens: Two Classical Plays”, p.184, Palgrave Macmillan

• Her virtues, graced with external gifts, Do breed love's settled passions in my heart; And like as rigour of tempestuous gusts Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide, So am I driven by breath of her renown Either to suffer shipwreck or arrive Where I may have fruition of her love.

  William Shakespeare

  Passion, Heart, Suffering

  William Shakespeare (1823). “The plays of William Shakspeare, pr. from the text of the corrected copies left by G. Steevens and E. Malone, with a selection of notes from the most eminent commentors by A. Chalmers”, p.343

• Suffer love; a good epithet! I do suffer love, indeed, for I love thee against my will.

  William Shakespeare

  Suffering, Thee, Benedick

  "Love's labour's lost. Much ado about nothing. Merchant of Venice".

• And what art thou, thou idol Ceremony? What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?

  William Shakespeare

  Art, Grief, Idols

  William Shakespeare, T.W. Craik (1995). “King Henry V: Third Series”, p.272, Cengage Learning EMEA

• But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
  Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
  In the affliction of these terrible dreams
  That shake us nightly.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Fear, Sleep

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 2, l. 11

• 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.

• Who alone suffers suffers most i' th' mind,
  Leaving free things and happy shows behind;
  But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip
  When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship.

  William Shakespeare

  Grief, Leaving, Mind

  William Shakespeare, George Steevens (1805). “The Plays of William Shakespeare : Accurately Printed from the Text of the Corrected Copy Left by the Late George Steevens: With a Series of Engravings, from Original Designs of Henry Fuseli, and a Selection of Explanatory and Historical Notes, from the Most Eminent Commentators; a History of the Stage, a Life of Shakespeare, &c. by Alexander Chalmers”, p.419

• We are not ourselves When nature, being oppressed, commands the mind To suffer with the body.

  William Shakespeare

  Insanity, Mind, Suffering

  William Shakespeare (1860). “The Mind of Shakspeare as Exhibited in His Works”, p.157

• Where the greater malady is fixed,
  The lesser is scarce felt.

  William Shakespeare

  Suffering, Fixed, Malady

• O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel (Who had no doubt some noble creature in her) Dashed all to pieces! O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished!

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Brave, Soul

  'The Tempest' (1611) act 1, sc. 2, l. 5

• O, I have suffered
  With those that I saw suffer!

  William Shakespeare

  Sympathy, Suffering, Saws

  William Shakespeare (2012). “Comedies of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.3813, BookCaps Study Guides

• 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

• When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow?
  If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
  Threatening the welkin with his big-swollen face?

  William Shakespeare

  Wind, Sea, Mad

  William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate (1995). “Titus Andronicus: Third Series”, p.201, Cengage Learning EMEA

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