| Not a mouse stirring. | Francisco to Barnardo(soldiers) |
| Stay!speak!speak! I charge thee, speak! | Horatio to ghost |
| Before my god, I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of my own eyes. | Horatio to BarnardoMeaning- I’ll have to see it to believe it |
| A little more than kin and less than kind. | Hamlet to himselfMeaning- Hamlet is related to Claudius in more ways then one, also Claudius is not very nice to him. |
| Do not forever with thy vailed lids seek for thy noble father in the dust. | Queen to Hamlet Meaning- Don’t dwell on your father’s passing |
| Fie, ’tis a fault to heaven. | Claudius to Hamlet Meaning- Your going against God |
| But two months dead– may not so much, not two. | Hamlet (too too sullied flesh soliloquy) Meaning- exaggeration of how quick Gertrude and Claudius got married after King hamlets death |
| Frailty, thy name is woman! | Hamlet(too too sullied flesh soliloquy) Meaning- saying his mom is weak |
| The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. | Hamlet to Horatio Meaning- the funeral and the wedding were so close together that they could have served the leftovers at the wedding |
| A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. | Horatio to HamletMeaning- the ghost looks more sad then angry |
| All is not well | Hamlet to himself Meaning- foreshadowing |
| Neither a borrower or a lender be. | Polonium to Laertes Meaning- Dont borrow money or lend it because you will lose friendships. |
| This above all: to thine own self be true. | Polonius to LaertesMeaning- stay true to yourself because if you can’t be true to yourself you can’t be true to others |
| Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well what I have said to you. | Laertes to OpheliaMeaning- be cautious about Hamlet |
| Angels and ministers of grace, defend us! | Hamlet to the ghost Meaning- asking to be defended in case the ghost is a demon |
| Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. | Marcellus to Horatio Meaning- foreshadowing, saying that something is wrong |
| Murder most foul, as in the best it is, but this most foul, strange, and unnatural. | Ghost to Hamlet Meaning-talking about how his murder was uncalled for |
| O, my prophetic soul! My uncle! | Hamlet to Ghost Meaning- I had a feeling that something was up |
| Leave her to heaven. | Ghost to Hamlet Meaning- don’t involve Gertrude |
| O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! | Hamlet to himself |
| That one may smile and smile and be a villain. | Hamlet to himself Meaning- talking about Claudius |
| There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. | Hamlet to Horatio Meaning- you can’t even imagine all the things in heaven and earth |
| Marry, sir, here’s my drift. | Polonius to Reynaldo Meaning- catch my drift |
| This is the very ecstasy of love. | Polonius to OpheliaMeaning- Hamlet is literally crazy in love |
| Therefore, since brevity is soul of wit. | Polonius to King and Queen Meaning- to be brief is the soul of wit |
| More matter with less art. | Gertrude to PoloniusMeaning- keep it short |
| Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. | Hamlet to PoloniusMeaning- it is very hard to find a honest person in the world |
| Words, words, words. | Hamlet to Polonius Meaning- Hamlet being sarcastic |
| Though this be madness, yet there is method in it. | Polonius to himself Meaning- method to my madness |
| For there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meaning- What you make of it is how you will perceive it. |
| What a price of work is a man. | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and GuildensternMeaning- Hamlet is being sincere about how incredible a human being is but he can’t appreciate it because he is depressed |
| Man delights not me, no, nor women neither | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern |
| I am mad but north-north-west. | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and GuildensternMeaning- I am crazy when I want to be |
| The plays the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. | Hamlet(rogue and peasant slave soliloquy) Meaning- the play will determine if the king is guilty |
| To be or not to be | Hamlet Meaning- questioning to live or to die |
| Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. | Ophelia to Hamlet Meaning- the gifts that Hamlet has given to Ophelia have lost their meaning because Hamlet has been mean to her |
| It hath made me mad. | Hamlet to OpheliaMeaning- saying Ophelia has caused him to act this way |
| O,woe is me t’have seen, see what I see! | Ophelia to herselfMeaning- she is full of sadness seeing what Hamlet has become |
| Madness in great ones must not unwatched go. | Claudius to Polonius and Ophelia Meaning- we must keep an eye on Hamlet |
| Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. | Hamlet to the players Meaning- speak your lines don’t scream it and don’t over exaggerate it |
| Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. | Hamlet to the players Meaning- you be the judge |
| Give me that man that is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, as I do thee. | Hamlet to HoratioMeaning- you want to have control in your life in order to do that you need a balance of passion and logic |
| Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; where little fears grow great, great love grows there. | Player Queen to Player KingMeaning- great love grows through fear |
| In second husband let me be accurst. None wed the second but who killed the first. | Player Queen to Player KingMeaning- No widow is going to marry again unless she was involved in killing her first husband |
| So think thou wilt no second husband wed, but die thy thoughts when the fist lord is dead. | Player King to Player QueenMeaning- you think you won’t get married again but when I die you’ll forget about me |
| The lady doth protest too much. | Queen to Hamlet Meaning- she’s exaggerated too much, implying that Gertrude did not keep her word |
| My wit’s diseased. | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and GuildensternMeaning-I’m crazy. |
| ‘Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meaning-metaphor, Hamlet is the recorder and Guildenstern can’t get anything out of him |
| They fool me to the top my bent. | Hamlet to himself Meaning- they push him to the full range of his acting ability. |
| Tis now the very witching time of night. | Hamlet to himselfMeaning- it’s midnight |
| Let me be cruel, not unnatural. I will speak daggers to her, but use none. | Hamlet to himself Meaning- he will say very mean things when he talks to Gertrude |
| O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven | Claudius to himself |
| My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go. | King to Himself Meaning- I am unable to pray. |
| How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead. | Hamlet as he kills Polonius Meaning- he worth barely anything because he is being sneaky |
| As kill a King? | Gertrude to HamletMeaning- Gertrude has nothing to do with killing King Hamlet |
| I must be cruel only to be kind. | Hamlet to Gertrude Meaning- be cruel in order to be kind |
| That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft. | Hamlet to GertrudeMeaning- there is a method to my madness |
| Mad as the sea and the wind when both contend which is mightier. | Gertrude to Claudius Meaning- expressing how mad Hamlet is |
| Diseases desperate grown by desperate appliance are relieved or not at all. | Claudius to extras Meaning- desperate times call for desperate measures |
| Go, captain, from me greet the Danish King. | Fortinbras To captain Meaning- he is insulting Hamlet because he is not greeting him himself |
| We go to gain a little patch or ground that hath in it no profit but the name. | Captain to Hamlet Meaning- the land is worth nothing |
| How all occasions do information at me. | Hamlet to himselfMeaning- first line of soliloquy, links to rogue and peasant slave soliloquy |
| I will not speak with her. | Queen to Horatio and gentlemanMeaning- she won’t speak to Ophelia who is mad |
| Follow her close; giver her good watch, I pray you. | Claudius to Horatio Meaning- keep a close eye on Ophelia |
| I’ll not be juggled with. | Laertes to Claudius Meaning- I will not be messed with |
| Alas, poor Yorick. | Hamlet to skull/ Horatio Meaning- talking to skull and reminiscing on man who had passed many years ago that Hamlet had known |
| Sweets to the sweet, farewell! | Queen as she scatters flowers over Ophelia Meaning- calling Ophelia sweet |
| The cat will mew, and the dog will have his day. | Hamlet to ClaudiusMeaning- your time will come |
| There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew then how we will. | Hamlet to Horation Meaning- a person can giv his life direction but fair determines the outcome |
| Why, what a king is this! | Horatio and Hamlet Meaning- not necessarily a positive statement |
| The readiness is all. | Hamlet to Horatio Meaning- it is what it is |
| Then venom, to thy work. | Hamlet to all Meaning- hamlet before he kills King |
| He is justly served. | Laertes to to himself/ Hamlet Meaning- the king got what he deserved |
Hamlet Quotes
September 10, 2019