Literary Birthday – 23 April – William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born 23 April 1564, and died 23 April 1616.

10 Famous William Shakespeare Quotes

1. To be, or not to be: that is the question.
2. Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
3. Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.
4. If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
5. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
6. ‘Tis better, sir, to be brief than tedious.
7. If music be the food of love, play on.
8. Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs.
9. Love sought is good, but giv’n unsought is better.
10. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.

Read more about the World Book Day – 23 April

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright. He wrote more than 30 plays, which are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. His best known works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,  Macbeth,  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Antony and Cleopatra. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and is known as the ‘Bard of Avon’. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. His birthday is celebrated on the World Book Day.

by Amanda Patterson

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