Shakespeare Fool Quotes & Sayings

Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
fool no where but in's own house. — William Shakespeare

Oh, I am fortune's fool! — William Shakespeare

Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit. — William Shakespeare

I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me he shall never make me such a fool. — William Shakespeare

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife ...
O, I am fortune's fool! ...
Then I defy you, stars. — William Shakespeare

SONNET 57
Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill. — William Shakespeare

My cousin's a fool, and thou art another. — William Shakespeare

Fools are not mad folks. — William Shakespeare

Do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love: — William Shakespeare

Olivia: What's a drunken man like, fool?
Feste: Like a drowned man, a fool, and a madman: one draught above heat makes him a fool; the second mads him; and a third drowns him. — William Shakespeare

More fools know Jack Fool than Jack Fool knows. — William Shakespeare

Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool,
Methinks, should not be chronicled for wise. — William Shakespeare

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. — William Shakespeare

Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?"
Malvolio: "Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused. I am as well in my wits, fool, as thou art."
Feste: "But as well? Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in you wits than a fool. — William Shakespeare

I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of fools. — William Shakespeare

...[A]nd I'll be wiser hereafter
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I to take this drunkard for a god
And worship this dull fool!
---Caliban speaking of Stephano and Trinculo
(lines 298 -301). — William Shakespeare

But fish not with this melancholy bait
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. — William Shakespeare

For give the dry fool drink, then is the fool not dry. Bid the dishonest man mend himself. If he mend, he is no longer dishonest. If he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Anything — William Shakespeare

Love is not love which alters it when alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O no! It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out, even to the edge of doom.
(Sonnet 116) — William Shakespeare

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. — William Shakespeare

A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' th' forest,
A motley fool! a miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool
Who laid him down and basked him in the sun
And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. — William Shakespeare

ROSALIND (AS GANYMEDE): And your experience makes you sad. I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad
and to travel for it to. — William Shakespeare

I wear not motley in my brain. Good madonna, give me leave to prove you a fool. — William Shakespeare

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come. — William Shakespeare

There is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail. — William Shakespeare

POLONIUS My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.
HAMLET Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?
POLONIUS By th'mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed.
HAMLET Methinks it is like a weasel.
POLONIUS It is backed like a weasel.
HAMLET Or like a whale?
POLONIUS Very like a whale.
HAMLET Then I will come to my mother by and by. - They fool me to the top of my bent. - I will come by and by. — William Shakespeare

We all remember the fool who, almost alone, was true to Lear, but, then, of course, he was a fool. — William Shakespeare

The dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits. — William Shakespeare

And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them: for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too, though in the meantime some necessary question of the play be then to be considered: that's villanous and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. — William Shakespeare

Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents. — William Shakespeare

love is not time's fool — William Shakespeare

But thoughts the slave of life, and life, Time's fool,
And Time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. — William Shakespeare

One of the benefits of being a mature well-educated woman is that you're not afraid of expletives. And you have no fear to put a fool in his place. That's the power of language and experience. You can learn a lot from Shakespeare. — Judi Dench

To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a
beast! — William Shakespeare

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest. — William Shakespeare

I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal. I saw him put down the other day with an 80 ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged. I protest I take these wise men, that crow so at these set kind of fools, no better than the fools' zanies. — William Shakespeare

I am fortunes fool. — William Shakespeare

Fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings, the husband's the bigger. — William Shakespeare

The why is plain as way to parish church:
He that a fool doth very wisely hit
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not,
The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool. — William Shakespeare

Clown: Good Madonna, why mournest thou?
Olivia: Good Fool, for my brother's death.
Clown:I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
Olivia:I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
Clown: The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. — William Shakespeare

A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear. — William Shakespeare

The fire seven times tried this;
seven times tried that judgement is
that did never choose amiss
some there be that shadows kiss;
such have but a shadows bliss,
there be fool alive, i wis
silverd o'er, and so was this
Take what wife you will to bed
I will ever be your head.
So be gone; you are sped. — William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare: Can you love a fool?
Viola De Lesseps: Can you love a player? — Marc Norman

In Shakespeare's world, characters cannot trust their senses. Is the ghost in Hamlet true and truthful, or is it a demon, tempting young Hamlet into murderous sin? Is Juliet dead or merely sleeping? Does Lear really stand at the edge of a great cliff? Or has the Fool deceived him to save his life? — Virginia Postrel

Thus we play the fool with the time and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us. — William Shakespeare

If it be you that stirs these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women's weapons, water drops,
Stain my man's cheeks. — William Shakespeare

What a fool honesty is. — William Shakespeare

Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth. O these deliberate fools! — William Shakespeare

Milk-livered man,
That bear'st a cheek for blows, a head for wrongs;
Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning
Thine honor from thy suffering; [that not know'st
Fools do those villains pity who are punished
Ere they have done their mischief. Where's thy drum?
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land,
With plumed helm thy state begins to threat,
Whilst thou, a moral fool, sits still and cries
'Alack, why does he so?'] — William Shakespeare

You are a tedious fool. — William Shakespeare

And my poor fool is hanged! No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never! Pray you, undo this button. — William Shakespeare

Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool
Art thou, to break into this woman's mood,
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own! — William Shakespeare

Jaq: By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I found you.
Orl: He is drowned in the brook, look but in and you shall see him.
Jaq: There I shall see mine own figure.
Orl: Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher. — William Shakespeare

Yes, and shall do till the pangs of death shake him. Infirmity, that decays the wise, doth ever make the better fool. — William Shakespeare

He that has a little tiny wit,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
Must make content with his fortunes fit,
Though the rain it raineth every day. — William Shakespeare

Wishers were ever fools. — William Shakespeare

Dost thou call me fool, boy?"
"All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with. — William Shakespeare

Merely, thou art death's fool,
For him thou labor'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet run'st toward him still. — William Shakespeare

Why what a fool was I to this drunken monster for a God. - Caliban — William Shakespeare

You had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground. — William Shakespeare

The loyalty, well held to fools, does make Our faith mere folly. — William Shakespeare

I see a woman may be made a fool,
If she had not a spirit to resist. — William Shakespeare

Fool:
"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health,
a boy's love, or a whore's oath."
King Lear (III, vi, 19-21) — William Shakespeare

Cucullus non facit monachum; that's as much to say, as I wear not motley in my brain. — William Shakespeare

Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow,
Ang'ring itself and others. — William Shakespeare

Kent. Who's there?
Fool. Marry, here's grace and a cod-piece; that's a wise man and a fool. — William Shakespeare

Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me. Kath. Asses are made to bear, and so are you. Pet. Women are made to bear, and so are you. Kath. No such jade as bear you, if me you mean.202 Pet. Alas! good Kate, I will not burden thee; For, knowing thee to be but young and light, - Kath. Too light for such a swain as you to catch, And yet as heavy as my weight should be. Pet. Should be! should buz! Kath. Well ta'en, and like a buzzard. Pet. O slow-wing'd turtle! shall a buzzard take thee?208 Kath. Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard. Pet. Come, come, you wasp; i' faith you are too angry. Kath. If I be waspish, best beware my sting. Pet. My remedy is, then, to pluck it out.212 Kath. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies. Pet. Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail. Kath. In his tongue. Pet. Whose tongue? Kath. Yours, if you talk of tails; and so farewell.216 Pet. What! with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again. — William Shakespeare

A fool, for example, thinks Shakespeare a great poet ... yet the fool has never read Shakespeare. — Edgar Allan Poe

Why should I play the Roman fool and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them. — William Shakespeare

A fool and his words are soon parted — William Shakespeare

TIMON
A fool of thee: depart.
APEMANTUS
I love thee better now than e'er I did.
TIMON
I hate thee worse. — William Shakespeare

Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the very day that young Hamlet was born, he that is mad and sent into England."
"Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?"
"Why, because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there, or, if he do not, it's no great matter there."
"Why?"
"'Twill not be seen in him there. There the men are as mad as he. — William Shakespeare

I am even
The natural fool of fortune. — William Shakespeare

Good fool, help me to some light and some paper. I tell thee, I am as well in my wits as any man in Illyria. — William Shakespeare

I don't fool myself. I can't see myself doing Shakespeare. — Sharon Tate

The world was to Shakespeare a great stage of fools on which he was utterly bewildered. His pregnant observations of life are not coordinated into any philosophy. — George Bernard Shaw

Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan the outward habit by the inward man. — William Shakespeare

A fool's bolt is soon shot. — William Shakespeare

Is this not pathetic, Odd, what some ill-educated fool has done? I take solace in reminding myself that 'art is long and critics are the insects of a day.'" "Shakespeare?" I asked. "No. Randall Jarrell. A wonderful poet, now all but forgotten because modern universities teach nothing but self-esteem and toe-sucking. — Dean Koontz

What many men desire
that 'many' may be meant By the fool multitude that choose by show, Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach, Which pries not to th' interior, but like the martlet Builds in the weather on the outward wall, Even in the force and road of casualty. — William Shakespeare

How every fool can play upon the word! — William Shakespeare

This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man's art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit. — William Shakespeare

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad and to travel for it too! — William Shakespeare

In Shakespeare's play As You Like It, Touchstone says to Audrey in the Forest of Arden "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." (Act V, Scene I). — Karolina Achirri

Day, night, late, early,
At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking or sleeping, still my care hath been
To have her match'd; and having now provided
A gentleman of princely parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man-
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer 'I'll not wed, I cannot love;
I am too young, I pray you pardon me'! — William Shakespeare

Away you three-inch fool! — William Shakespeare

The Prince's fool! Ha, it may be I go under that title because I am merry. Yea, but so I am apt to do myself wrong. — William Shakespeare

You ask whether I have ever been in love: fool as I am, I am not such a fool as that. But if one is only to talk from first-hand experience, conversation would be a very poor business. But though I have no personal experience of the things they call love, I have what is better - the experience of Sappho, of Euripides, of Catallus, of Shakespeare, of Spenser, of Austen, of Bronte, of anyone else I have read. — C.S. Lewis

How ill white hairs become a fool and jester! — William Shakespeare

Oh what fools we mortals are. — William Shakespeare

I am indeed not her fool, but her corrupter of words. (Act III, sc. I, 37-38) — William Shakespeare

Didn't Shakespeare say something about 'every fool in error can find a passage of Scripture to back him up'? He knew his religious bigots. — John Howard Griffin

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage. — William Shakespeare

The fool multitude, that choose by show, not learning more than the fond eye doth teach. — William Shakespeare

I hold him but a fool that will endanger His body for a girl that loves him not. — William Shakespeare