Cummings Study Guide

    Everyday Expressions

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    Everyday Expressions
    From Shakespeare

    A fool's paradise.—Romeo and Juliet.
    A foregone conclusion.—Othello.
    A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!—Richard III.
    Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him.—Hamlet.
    A little pot and soon hot.—The Taming of the Shrew.
    All the world's a stage.—As You Like It.
    All's well that ends well.—All's Well That Ends Well.

    As . . . luck would have it.—The Merry Wives of Windsor.
    As white as driven snow.—The Winter's Tale.
    Beware the ides of March.—Julius Caesar.
    Blow, blow, thou winter wind.—As You Like It.
    Brave new world.—The Tempest.
    Brevity is the soul of wit.—Hamlet.
    Cold comfort.—King John.
    Come full circle.—King Lear.
    Come what may.—Macbeth.
    Conscience does make cowards of us all.—Hamlet.
    Cowards die many times before their deaths.—Julius Caesar.
    Crack of doom.—Macbeth.
    Death by inches.—Coriolanus.
    Dish fit for the gods.—Julius Caesar.
    Dog will have its day.—Hamlet.
    Done to death.—Much Ado About Nothing.
    Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.—Macbeth.
    Eaten me out of house and home.—Henry IV.
    Elbow room.—King John.
    Et tu, Brute! [Latin: And you, Brutus!]—Julius Caesar.
    Every inch a king.—King Lear.
    Fatal vision.—Macbeth.
    Flaming youth.—Hamlet.
    Frailty, thy name is woman.—Hamlet.
    Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.—Julius Caesar.
    Give the devil his due.—Henry IV.
    Green-eyed monster.—Othello.
    Halcyon days.—Henry VI.
    Hearts of gold.—Henry VI Part I.
    Her infinite variety.—Antony and Cleopatra.
    Hold a candle to.—The Merchant of Venice.
    I am fortune's fool.—Romeo and Juliet.
    I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.—Merry Wives of Windsor.
    I have not slept one wink.—Cymbeline.
    I must be cruel, only to be kind.—Hamlet.
    In my mind's eye.—Hamlet.
    It's a wise father that knows his own child.—The Merchant of Venice.
    It smells to heaven.—Hamlet.
    It was Greek to me.—Julius Caesar.
    Kill . . . with kindness.—The Taming of the Shrew.
    Lend me your ears.—Julius Caesar.
    Let slip the dogs of war.—Julius Caesar
    Lord, what fools these mortals be!—A Midsummer Night's Dream.
    Love is blind.—The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare appears to have copied this line from Chaucer's Love Is Blynd).
    Lov'd not wisely, but too well.—Othello.
    Merry as the day is long.—Much Ado About Nothing.
    More sinned against than sinning.—King Lear
    My own flesh and blood.—The Merchant of Venice.
    My salad days, when I was green in judgement.—Antony and Cleopatra.
    Neither a borrower nor a lender be.—Hamlet.
    Neither rhyme nor reason.—As You Like It.
    Now is the winter of our discontent.—Richard III.
    Once more unto the breach.—Henry V.
    One fell swoop.—Macbeth.
    Out, damned spot!—Macbeth.
    Out of the question.—Love's Labour's Lost.
    Paint the lily.—King John.
    Parting is such sweet sorrow.—Romeo and Juliet.
    Play fast and loose.—Love's Labour's Lost.
    Primrose path.—Hamlet.
    Put out the light.—Othello.
    Seamy Side.—Othello.
    Short and the Long of It.—Merry Wives of Windsor.
    Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.—Henry VI, Part II.
    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.—Hamlet.
    Something wicked this way comes.—Macbeth.
    Something in the wind.—The Comedy of Errors.
    Sorry sight.—Macbeth.
    Sound and the Fury.—Macbeth.
    Spotless reputation.—Richard III.
    Star-cross'd lovers.—Romeo and Juliet.
    Strange bedfellows.—The Tempest.
    Sweets to the sweet.—Hamlet,
    What's in a name?—Romeo and Juliet.
    The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.—The Merchant of Venice.
    The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.—Henry VI.
    The lady doth protest too much.—Hamlet.
    The play's the thing.—Hamlet.
    The quality of mercy is not strained.—The Merchant of Venice.
    The short and the long of it.—The Merry Wives of Windsor.
    The working day world.—As You Like It.
    The world's mine oyster.—The Merry Wives of Windsor.
    There is a tide in the affairs of men.—Julius Caesar.
    They say an old man is twice a child.—Hamlet.
    This was the noblest Roman of them all.—Julius Caesar.
    Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.—Hamlet.
    Throw cold water on it.—The Merry Wives of Windsor.
    'Tis neither here nor there.—Othello.
    To be, or not to be: that is the question.—Hamlet.
    Too much of a good thing.—As You Like It.
    To thine own self be true.—Hamlet.
    Unkindest cut of all.—Julius Caesar.
    We are such stuff as dreams are made of.—The Tempest.
    What's past is prologue.—The Tempest.
    Woe is me.—Hamlet.

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