Shakespeare coined many popular phrases that are still commonly used today. Here are some examples of Shakespeare's most familiar quotes from Hamlet. You just might be surprised to learn of all the everyday sayings that originally came from Shakespeare!
"That it should come to this!" (Act I, Scene II)
"O, That this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew." (Act I, Scene II)
"In my mind's eye." (Act I, Scene II)
"Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act I, Scene II)
"A little more than kin, and less than kind." (Act I, Scene II)
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." (Act I, Scene III)
"And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." (Act I, Scene III)
"This above all: to thine own self be true." (Act I, Scene III)
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Act I, Scene IV)
"This is the very ecstasy of love." (Act II, Scene I)
"Brevity is the soul of wit." (Act II, Scene II)
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (Act II, Scene II)
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (Act II, Scene II)
"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and 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!" (Act II, Scene II)
"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." (Act II, Scene II)
"Doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love." (Act II, Scene II)
"To be, or not to be: that is the question." (Act III, Scene I)
"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind." (Act III, Scene I)
"Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?" (Act III, Scene II)
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." (Act III, Scene II)
"I will speak daggers to her, but use none." (Act III, Scene II)
"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." (Act IV, Scene V)
"The rest is silence." (Act V, Scene II)
