WORDS AND PHRASES COMMONLY USED IN

ENGLISH COINED BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

All our yesterdays

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)

All’s well that ends well

As good luck would have it

(Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, scene 5)

The better part of valor is discretion

Falstaff:

The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have sav'd my life

(Henry The Fourth, Part 1 Act 5, scene 4)

Neither a borrower nor a lender be

Polonius:

Neither a borrower nor a lender be,

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

(Hamlet Act 1, scene 3)

Break the ice

TRANIO

(as LUCENTIO) If it be so, sir, that you are the man

Must stead us all, and me amongst the rest,

And if you break the ice and do this feat,

(The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1, scene 2)

Brevity is the soul of wit

Polonius: Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, (…)

I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. . . .

(Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2)

Comparisons are odorous

VERGES Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an

old man and no honester than I.

DOGBERRY

Comparisons are odorous: palabras, neighbour Verges.

(Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, scene 5)

Dead as a doornail

JACK CADE:

Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five

men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never

eat grass more.

(King Henry VI. Part II(Act 4, scene 10)

Dog will have his day

HAMLET

Hear you, sir.

What is the reason that you use me thus?

I loved you ever. But it is no matter.

Let Hercules himself do what he may,

The cat will mew and dog will have his day.

(Hamlet, Act 5, scene 1)

Forever and a day

ROSALIND: Now tell me how long you would have her after you have

possessed her.

ORLANDO :Forever and a day.

ROSALIND : Say “a day” without the “ever”.

(As You Like It, Act 4, scene 1)

Foregone conclusion

OTHELLO:

But this denoted a foregone conclusion:

'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.

(Othello, Act 3, scene 3)

The game is up

Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd,

They take for natural father. The game is up.”

(Cymbeline, Act 3, scene 3

It was Greek to me

CASCA Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the

face again: but those that understood him smiled at

one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own

part, it was Greek to me.

(Julius Caesar, Act 1, scene 2)

Kill with kindness

(Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, scene 1)

My kingdom for a horse

KING RICHARD III

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

(Richard III, Act 3, scene 4)

Ill wind which blows no man to good

FALSTAFF

What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

PISTOL

Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.

(Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, scene 3)

In a pickle

ALONSO

How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last

(The Tempest, Act 1, scene 1)

Knock knock! Who’s there?

PORTER

Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i' th' name of Beelzebub?

(Macbeth, Act 2, scene 3)

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows

There is no other shelter hereabouts. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows

(The Tempest, Act 2, scene 2)

More sinned against than sinning

LEAR

I am a man

More sinned against than sinning.

(King Lear, Act 3, scene 2)

One that loved not wisely but too well

OTHELLO

Then must you speak

Of one that loved not wisely, but too well.

(Othello, Act 5, scene 2)

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Parting is such sweet sorrow

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2)

Pomp and circumstance

The royal banner, and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

(Othello Act 3, scene 3)

Pound of flesh

PORTIA A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine.

The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

(The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, scene 1)

The short and the long of it

It’s the long and the short of it

(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, scene 2)

Truth will out

LAUNCELOT Nay, indeed if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me.

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son.

Give me your blessing. Truth will come to light.

Murder cannot be hid long—a man’s son may, but in the end truth will out.

(The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, scene)

Wear my heart upon my sleeve

IAGO

Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.

In following him, I follow but myself.

Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,

But seeming so, for my peculiar end.

For when my outward action doth demonstrate

The native act and figure of my heart

In compliment extern, ’tis not long after

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.

(Othello, Act 1, scene 1)

What the dickens

Mrs. I cannot tell what the dickens his name is

(The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, scene 2)

What’s done is done

Things without all remedy

Should be without regard. What’s done is done.

(Macbeth, Act 3, scene 2)

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell

as sweet

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name, which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2)

MERCUTIO Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-

goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there

for the goose? (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 4)

The world’s my oyster

Pistol: Why then the world's mine oyster,

Which I with sword will open.

(Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, scene 2)