Idioms and sayings from Shakespeare's plays.

Today the world celebrates the birthday of the Great Bard William Shakespeare whose impact on the developement of the English language is huge. It is well-known that about 2000 new words and phrases were invented by him. Let's have a look at the most popular idioms and sayings from Shakespeare's plays.

To wear your heart on your sleeve - To show your emotions openly; not to try to hide your feelings. The idiom was used by Shakespeare in 1604 in the play Othello. The Character Iago says “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve…”

Spotless reputation

In the play "Richard II" Mowbray, one of the characters, says: "The purest treasure  mortal times afford is spotless reputation". Watch the video which explains and illustrates the meaning of this expression.

A wilde goose chase is where you foolishly chase something that is difficult to get or doesn't exist.

A method in one’s madness is a phrase used to assure someone that one’s actions have a purpose, though they may seem foolish or crazy. The expression is derived from the line spoken by Lord Polonius in "Hamlet": "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it".

The tower of strength means a person who gives you help and support when you are in a difficult situation. It is derived from the line in "Richard III": "The king's name is the tower of strength".

Green-eyed monster

This phrase was used by Shakespeare to denote jealousy in Iago's words in "Othello": "Beware, my Lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster". Watch that very scene from the play:

Famous sayings from Shakespeare's plays

The world is your oister

If you say that the world is someone's oyster, you mean that they can do anything or go anywhere that they want to.

This phrase first appears in William Shakespeare's play "The Merry Wives of Windsor":

   Falstaff: I will not lend thee a penny.

   Pistol: Why then the world's mine oyster, Which I with sword will open.

Oysters are easily open with a knife. Here Sakespeare uses the word "oister" to symbolyze the world.

What's done is done (from "Macbeth").

This idiom is said when you cannot change something that has already happened.

Come what may

Originally the line from  "Macbeth" sounded like "Come what come may". It means whatever happens. I can't resist referring here to the song with the same name from "Moulen Rouge":

All that glitters is not gold

This is an aphorism stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be valuable. Originally the line from "The Merchant of Venice" (1596) sounded as 'all that glisters is not gold'. 'Glister' is usually replaced by 'glitter' in modern renditions of the play

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players

In the famous monologue from the play "As You Like It" (1600) Shakespeare compares a man's life to a play. Here it is read by Benedict Cumberbatch.

7 Ages of Man

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.


If you want to know more, here is a list of 135 phrases coined by Shakespeare.