“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Listen to many, speak to a few.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“One may smile, and smile, and be a villain. ”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Conscience doth make cowards of us all.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. ”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Lord Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Lord Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Lord Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“I must be cruel only to be kind;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“So full of artless jealousy is guilt,
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet
“it is an old saying, that you must not work a willing horse to death.”
― Frederick Marryat, quote from The Children of the New Forest
“If ever you’re attacked with the gout, sir, jist you marry a widder as has got a good loud woice, with a decent notion of usin’ it, and you’ll never have the gout agin. It’s a capital prescription, sir. I takes it reg’lar, and I can warrant it to drive away any illness as is caused by too much jollity.’ Having imparted this valuable secret, Mr. Weller drained his glass once more, produced a laboured wink, sighed deeply, and slowly retired.”
― Charles Dickens, quote from The Complete Works of Charles Dickens
“America today is a "save yourself" society if there ever was one. But does it really work? The underdeveloped societies suffer from one set of diseases: tuberculosis, malnutrition, pneumonia, parasites, typhoid, cholera, typhus, etc. Affluent America has virtually invented a whole new set of diseases: obesity, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, venereal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, battered children, suicide, murder. Take your choice. Labor-saving machines have turned out to be body-killing devices. Our affluence has allowed both mobility and isolation of the nuclear family, and as a result, our divorce courts, our prisons and our mental institutions are flooded. In saving ourselves we have nearly lost ourselves.”
― John Piper, quote from Don't Waste Your Life
“A fool is always pleased with what he says, and, besides, he always says more than he needs to.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from The Adolescent
“Perceptions are key. Your representation to society dictates what people think of you.”
― Jessica Brody, quote from My Life Undecided
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.