WHO SAID THAT?

In many instances, William Shakespeare!  

We all know famous lines from Shakespeare's works, the following are just a few:

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN, LEND ME YOUR EARS

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET

DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CAULDRON BUBBLE

O ROMEO, ROMEO, WHEREFORE ART THOU, ROMEO.

But what you may not know is many of the aphorisms used today were also started by Shakespeare. It is well-known he didn't coin all the sayings, but he was the first to write many of them down. Other writers before him used some of the expressions in their works.


COME WHAT COME MAY was first used in 1375 in John Barbour's, The Bruce. Shakespeare used the term in MacBeth.

MACBETH: Come what come may, 
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

EATEN OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME is noted in Henry IV.

MISTRESS QUICKLY: It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all, all I have.
 He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his...

WHERE MY HEART UPON MY SLEEVE may derive from the middle ages jousting matches were knights are said to have worn colors of the lady they were supporting, in a cloth or ribbon tied on their arms, but the term was first recorded in Shakespeare's Othello.

IAGO: ...But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

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

SEND HIM PACKING can be found in Shakespeare's Henry IV.

FALSTAFF: Faith, and I'll send him packing.

NIGHT OWL first became a reference to people in the sixteenth century. Shakespeare used it in Richard II:

"For nightowles shreeke, where mounting larkes should sing."

and in Twelfth Night:

"Shall wee rowze the night-Owle in a Catch?"

LOVE IS BLIND was a favorite line of Shakespeare's. It appears in several of his plays. The following is from The Merchant Of Venice.

JESSICA:...But love is blind and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit;

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush

To see me thus transformed to a boy.

IN STITCHES was first used by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night. Despite Shakespeare using the phrase, it didn't become popular until the twentieth century.

MARIA: If you desire the spleen, and will laugh yourself into stitches, follow me.

GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE is from Shakespeare's Henry IV.

CONSTABLE; I will cap that proverb with 'There is flattery in friendship.'

ORLEANS: And I will take up that with 'Give the devil his due.'

GREEN-EYED MONSTER is a phrase used in Othello.

IAGO: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock...

Here are more aphorisms, some I can believe were used by Shakespeare, others just astound me that we're using them still today.

A FOOL'S PARADISE

A FOREGONE CONCLUSION

ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

AS DEAD AS A DOORNAIL

AS PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW

AT ONE FELL SWOOP

BEWARED THE IDES OF MARCH

EXCEEDINGLY WELL READ

FAIR PLAY

FANCY FREE

FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE

FOREVER AND A DAY

FOUL PLAY

GOOD RIDDANCE

HEART'S CONTENT

HIGH TIME

HIS BEARD WAS AS WHITE AS SNOW (Isn't this Santa Claus?)

I HAVE NOT SLEPT ONE WINK

IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON

IN A PICKLE (seriously??? Shakespeare?)

IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE

LIKE THE DICKENS (And this is no reference to Charles Dickens!)

SCREW YOUR COURAGE TO THE STICKING POST (I've never heard of this one, but I love it.)

SET YOUR TEETH ON EDGE

SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

STAR CROSSED LOVERS

SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE OF

THE DEVIL INCARNATE

THE GAME IS UP

THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH

THERE'S METHOD IN MY MADNESS (Oh, we writers know this one.)

THIS IS THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

UP IN ARMS

VANISH INTO THIN AIR (Wow, really?)

WE HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS

WILD GOOSE CHASE

by Tess St. John

As a writer, I think it would be the ultimate compliment for people to be using phrases and words I wrote five hundred years from now!

I hope some of you learned something new. Please check out these websites for information (I got my information for this blog at these sites) on Shakespeare and his writing, plus more sayings still used today--and their meanings.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-sayings-shakespeare.html
http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-quotes.htm
http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/quotes/quotes.htm
http://www.allgreatquotes.com/shakespeare_quotes.shtml

For more about Tess St. John and her books, please visit her website at  http://tessstjohn.com .