William Shakespeare Quotes

hell and devils image quote from William Shakespeare In Devils

Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here.

– William Shakespeare

The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2. Ariel to Prospero, relating what Ferdinand cried out as he plunged into the water from the shipwreck. Ferdinand recognizes the true and evil nature of his father King Alonso and the royal party with whom he traveled. In the full quote, Ariel uses a simile to compare Ferdinand’s hair to reeds: "Then all afire with me: the king’s son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring, – then like reeds, not hair, – Was the first man that leaped; cried, ‘Hell is empty And all the devils are here.’"

Flout ’em and scout ’em
And scout ’em and flout ’em
Thought is free.

– William Shakespeare

The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 2. The farsical scene between the drunken trio continues, as Stephano sings this song for Caliban about treating others with contempt and insults because speaking your mind is freedom. Caliban had asked him to perform the song he taught him and protests that this isn’t it. Just then an invisible Ariel begins a tune on his flute and Trinculo recognizes it as Stephano’s song. So the comic confusion carries on.

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.

– William Shakespeare

The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 2. This is one of the most poetic passages in The Tempest, spoken by Caliban, and the speech has a haunting and dream-like quality about it. It shows that Caliban is not just all monster and anger but a much more complicated and multi-sided character capable of eloquence and beautiful expression. He describes the magical qualities of his beloved island of which is a native, his deep attachment to it, and his own dreams. In his moving speech Caliban attempts to reassure the others, spooked by the invisible Ariel’s mysterious music resulting from Prospero’s magic, that the island is indeed full of sounds and music that give pleasure but don’t hurt. Does this poetic speech with its powerful imagery and calm and thoughtful language reflect the true nature of Caliban? Is his brutish and monstrous and side then a reaction to the cruel way he has been treated by his slave master Prospero – a case of nurture and not nature? If you treat a person like a monster, do they not sometimes become the monster? The Tempest is often seen as a critique on the cruel treatment of colonized peoples by their European colonizers, as depicted in Prospero’s treatment of Caliban and Ariel.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

– William Shakespeare

The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1. This famous speech spoken by Prospero to Ferdinand is often regarded as Shakespeare’s retirement speech. With beautiful use of metaphors and similes, he talks about life, mortality and the inevitability of death. We are said to be made of the stuff of dreams and life is a cycle, beginning and ending with sleep. Here Prospero has staged a masque performed by spirit actors as an engagement present for Ferdinand and Miranda. He suddenly remembers Caliban’s plot against him and abruptly cuts short the masque performance, and the spirit actors melt into thin air as does the imagined setting – the "baseless fabric". In his speech Prospero says that the performance is all an illusion, a dream that will disappear like the natural order of things in this world. He is speaking about the illusory nature, not just of the theatric performance and magic, but of life itself. The irony of what Shakespeare says here is that his theatrical and literary legacy has endured more than any other writer in the English language in history. Four centuries after his death, Shakespeare is still the most famous name in English literature and theater.

But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1. Horatio uses figurative language and vivid imagery to signal that it is daybreak and the sun is coming up. He uses the metaphor of “in russet mantle clad” to describe the dawn and its reddish-brown color. The morn is personified as having feet to walk over the dew of a high hill. The quote comes just after the exit of the Ghost, which has made another appearance on the castle battlements.

He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2. Hamlet says this in response to Horatio’s compliment about his late father being a “goodly king.” Hamlet clearly loved his father very much, as shown by this heartfelt tribute to the king and the unique role he played in the prince’s life. Hamlet’s comment that he will never see the like of him again is ironic, since he will meet his father’s Ghost in the next scene.

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

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3. The keynote of Polonius’ famous speech to Laertes who is about to depart for Paris are these final words of wisdom. He counsels his son to be true to himself, which means he cannot be false to anyone else. One cannot overlook the deep irony in Polonius’ oft quoted exercise in sagacity and moral advice. For Polonius is a hypocrite who doesn’t practice what he preaches. After offering his blessing to Laertes to go to Paris, the deceitful Polonius sends someone to spy on him, he spies on daughter Ophelia and Hamlet, and he interferes in Ophelia’s romantic relationship with Hamlet, which contributes to her taking her life.
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