William Shakespeare, a household word

A man that has touched all of our lives, in fact so many times a phrase will be used in normal everyday conversation which  can and should  be credited to William Shakespeare.  I remember studying his work while at college (it was a REQUIRED class but quickly became a DESIRED class.)  By the end of the semester I was captivated by his incredible wit, his playfulness and extreme talent.  And now today 23 April, many are celebrating his b-day and/or the anniversary of his death (both on the same day), so I thought I would just do a refresher course by searching out his name.   I always find it amazing to discover how many of his scribbles have become one liners and have infiltrated our everyday conversation and culture … so many of them have become household words!!

Here are a few that I remember.  Do you have anything to add to this list?

If music be the food of love, play on.

To be or not to be, that is the question

All the world’s a stage

For my part it was Greek to me, which of course we lazily say its all Greek to me

In fact just a little research pulled up this site:  William Shakespeare . info

and I quote from their site (but please check them out because the full article is even more interesting):

William Shakespeare Quotes – Plagiarism!
…  Other famous Shakespearean quotations such as “I’ll not budge an inch”, “We have seen better days” ,”A dish fit for the gods” are all used frequently and, almost as a parody, the expression it’s “Greek to me” is often used to describe a frustrated student’s view of Shakespeare’s work! Politicians dig deep into their pool of William Shakespeare quotes and quotations such as “Fair Play”, “Foregone Conclusion “, “One Fell Swoop”, and “Into Thin Air “. Furthermore, other Shakespearean quotes such as “to thine own self be true” have become widely spoken pearls of wisdom. So quotes from William Shakespeare have now become household words and sayings – and just to emphasise the point “household word” is also one of the Bard’s ‘anonymous’ quotations!

Nomination and William Shakespeare in Florence Italy

What a fun coincidence that we just put online a new piece from Nomination Italian Fashion Jewelry, a lovely romantic necklace that has a quote (in Italian, but of course) from on of his sonnets.  The Sonnets, published in 1609, were the last of Shakespeare’s non-dramatic works to be printed.  Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership.  This necklace has a sweet little heart with a Swarovski Crystal and a medallion with a lover’s quote:

Sonnet 24 by William Shakespeare
Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath stell’d
Thy beauty’s form in table of my heart;