William Shakespeare Quotes About Greatness

• Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Motivational, Success

  'Twelfth Night' (1601) act 2, sc. 5, l. [158]

• Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Life, Success

  William Shakespeare (1838). “The Pictorial edition of the works of Shakspere, ed. by C. Knight. [8 vols., including a vol. entitled William Shakspere, by C. Knight].”, p.281

• Some are born great, others achieve greatness.

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Intellectual, Achieve

• Lord Bacon told Sir Edward Coke when he was boasting, The less you speak of your greatness, the more shall I think of it.

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Thinking, Coke

• Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness! This is the state of man: today he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And - when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening - nips his root, And then he falls, as I do.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Fall, Farewell

  'Henry VIII' (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 352

• There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Taken, Opportunity

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 215

• There's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year.

  William Shakespeare

  Memories, Greatness, Men

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [140]

• Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Politics

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 3, sc. 2, l. [257]

• I have touched the highest point of all my greatness.

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Glory, Touched

  1613 Wolsey. Henry VIII, act 3, sc.2, l.224-6.

• Th abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.

  William Shakespeare

  Power, Greatness, Abuse

  William Shakespeare, James Boswell, Alexander Pope, Richard Farmer, Samuel Johnson (1821). “The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare”, p.34

• He is not great who is not greatly good.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Good Life, Memorable

  William Shakespeare, Capel Lofft (1812). “Aphorisms from Shakespeare”, p.333

• I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness, And from that full meridian of my glory I haste now to my setting.

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Haste, Glory

  1613 Wolsey. Henry VIII, act 3, sc.2, l.224-6.

• Be not afraid of greatness.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Greatness, Not Afraid

  'Twelfth Night' (1601) act 2, sc. 5, l. [158]

• Every subject's duty is the King's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore, should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience; and dying so, death is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained; and in him that escapes, it were no sin to think that, making God so free an offer, He let him outlive the day to see His greatness and to teach others how they should prepare.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, War, Greatness

  William Shakespeare (2012). “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, p.2393, Graphic Arts Books

• Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness!

  William Shakespeare

  Farewell, Greatness, Long

  'Henry VIII' (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 352

• Greatness, once fallen out with fortune, must fall out with men too.

  William Shakespeare

  Fall, Greatness, Men

  William Shakespeare, Thomas Dolby (1872). “Dictionary of Shakespearian Quotations: Exhibiting the Most Forcible Passages, Illustrative of the Various Passions, Affections and Emotions of the Human Mind”, p.123

• Greatness knows itself.

  William Shakespeare

  Power, Greatness, Honor

  'Henry IV, Part 1' (1597) act 4, sc. 3, l. 74

• O England! Model to thy inward greatness, like little body with a might heart.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Greatness, Inward

  'Henry V' (1599) act 2, chorus, l. 16

• GLOUCESTER: Yet so much is my poverty of spirit, So mighty and so many my defects, As I had rather hide me from my greatness, Being a bark to brook no mighty sea, Than in my greatness covet to be hid, And in the vapour of my glory smother'd. But God be thanked. . . .

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Sea, Vapour

  William Shakespeare (2014). “Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Complete Comedies, Histories, Tragedies and Poems”, p.3436, Ageless Reads

• They that stand high have many blasts to shake them.

  William Shakespeare

  Greatness, Blast, Shakes

  1592-3 Margaret. Richard III, act1, sc.3, l.257-8.

• No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape; back- wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Kings, Greatness

  William Shakespeare, N. W. Bawcutt (1998). “Measure for Measure”, p.172, Oxford University Press, USA

• Poor wretches that depend
  On greatness' favor, dream as I have done;
  Wake, and find nothing.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Greatness, Done

  William Shakespeare, Oliver William Bourn Peabody, Samuel Weller Singer, Charles Symmons, John Payne Collier (1839). “The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: Julius Cæser. Antony and Cleopatra. Cymbeline. Titus Andronicus. Pericles”, p.315

You May Also Like:

Miguel de Cervantes

Anne Hathaway

Charles Dickens

William Wordsworth

Christopher Marlowe

Moliere

Elizabeth I