Phrases from Hamlet in common English

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

play Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

has contributed many phrases to common English, from the famous "To be, or not to be

To be, or not to be

"To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet , Act III, Scene 1. It is the best-known quotation from the play and probably the most famous in world literature but there is disagreement on its meaning, as there is of the whole speech.- Text :This...

" to a few less known, but still in everyday English.

Also, some occur elsewhere, such as the Bible, or are proverbial

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

. A few, listed out (Note: all are second quarto except as noted):

Act I, scene 1:

As the mote is to trouble the mind's eye ("Mind's eye," though it did not originate as a phrase in this play, was popularized by Shakespeare's use of it.)

Act I, scene 2:

... all that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

Frailty, thy name is

Thy name is

"______, thy name is ______" is a snowclone used to indicate the completeness with which something or somebody embodies a particular quality , usually a negative one.-History:...

woman!

Act I, scene 5:

The time is out of joint ...

Act I, scene 3:

...the primrose path...

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

This above all: to thine ownself be true,

Giving more light than heat,...

Act I, scene 4:

And to the manner born, ... (i.e., predisposed to the practice. This phrase is sometimes mistakenly rendered as "to the manor born", and used to mean 'of the privileged class”; see references for more on this one. In recent years this misconception has spread through the popularity of the British sitcom To the Manor Born

To the Manor Born

To the Manor Born is a British sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special edition appeared in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by Peter Spence, the creator, while the 1981 finale was written by Christopher...

, the title of which was a deliberate pun on Shakespeare's phrase.)

More honoured in the breach than the observance. (Another misunderstood phrase, in the context (the Danes' drinking customs) it signifies that the Danes gain more honour by neglecting their drunken customs than following them; however, it has come to be used in situations where it simply means that a custom is hardly ever followed.)

O, answer me! (Hamlet's anguished cry to his father's ghost

Ghost

In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Act I, scene 5:

Murder most foul, ...

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Act II, scene 2:

...brevity is the soul of wit,

Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. — (Note: this is a first folio

First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....

passage)

What a piece of work is a man

The phrase "What a piece of work is a man!" comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, Scene 2, and it is often used in reference to the whole speech containing the line.-The speech:...

And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

...an old man is twice a child.

... man delights not me

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!

... and the devil hath power

To assume a pleasing shape;

...The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king

The Conscience of the King

"The Conscience of the King" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episode #13, production #13, and aired on December 8, 1966...

Act III, scene 1:

To be, or not to be

: that is the question ...

...what dreams may come, (part of last, the title

What Dreams May Come (film)

What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to...

of a Robin Williams

Robin Williams

Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

movie.)

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

Mortal coil

Mortal coil is a poetic term that means the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned, most famously in the phrase "shuffle[d] off this mortal coil" from Shakespeare's Hamlet...

, (another from To be, or not to be

To be, or not to be

)

Get thee to a nunnery (occurs several places in this scene)

O, woe is me,

Act III, scene 2:

Speak the speech

"Speak the speech" is a famous speech from Shakespeare's Hamlet . In it, Hamlet offers directions and advice to a group of actors whom he has enlisted to play for the court of Denmark....

...

Purpose is but the slave to memory,

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

The quotation "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, scene II. The phrase has come to mean that one can "insist so passionately about something not being true that people suspect the opposite of what one is saying."The phrase is often misquoted as...

Act III, Scene 4:

Hoist with his own petard

Petard

A petard was a small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. The term has a French origin and dates back to the sixteenth century...

(see external links for more on this one)

Act IV, Scene 4:

How all occasions do inform against me,

Act V, Scene 1:

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio (the Horatio is often replaced with the word well, a common misquote; in the previous scene Laertes

Laertes (character)

Laertes is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. In the final scene, he kills Hamlet with a poisoned sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, for...

observes, "I know him well...")

Let Hercules himself do what he may,

The cat will mew and dog will have his day.

Will he nill he.

Act V, Scene 2:

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will ...

report me and my cause aright ... To tell my story. (Hamlet's

Prince Hamlet

Prince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius and son of the previous King of Denmark, Old Hamlet. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and...

dying request to Horatio

Horatio (character)

Horatio is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. A friend of Prince Hamlet from Wittenberg University, Horatio's origins are unknown, though he is evidently poor and was present on the battlefield when Hamlet's father defeated 'the ambitious Norway'...

)

... The rest is silence. (Hamlet's last words)

...so shall you hear

Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,

Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,

Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, (Horatio's discussion of the play's blood-bath)

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