These to be or not to be quotes will inspire you. “To be, or not to be” is the opening phrase of a soliloquy[a] given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called “nunnery scene” of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
A collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging to be or not to be quotes, to be or not to be sayings, and to be or not to be proverbs.
Best To Be Or Not To Be Quotes
- “To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.” ~ Golda Meir
- “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “To be, or not to be; that is the bare bodkin That makes calamity of so long life.” ~ Mark Twain
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“To take arms against a sea of troubles.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “To be or not to be isn’t the question. The question is how to prolong being.” ~ Tom Robbins
- “To be or not to be?’ That is not the question. What is the question? The question is not one of being, but of becoming. ‘To become more or not to become more’ This is the question faced by each intelligence in our universe.” ~ Truman G. Madsen
- “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” ~ William Shakespeare
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“The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “‘Tis better to bear the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “To die: – to sleep: No more; and, by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.” ~ William Shakespeare
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“You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk
- “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?” ~ William Shakespeare
- “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is slicked o’er with the pale cast of thought” ~ William Shakespeare
- “Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause, there’s the respect, That makes calamity of so long life” ~ William Shakespeare
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“Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered!” ~ William Shakespeare
- “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?” ~ William Shakespeare - “To die, to sleep – To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come.” ~ William Shakespeare
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“The native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought; and enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard, their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “Everything necessarily is or is not, and will be or will not be; but one cannot divide and say that one or the other is necessary.I mean, for example: it is necessary for there to be or not to be a sea-battle tomorrow; but it is not necessary for a sea-battle to take place tomorrow, or for one not to take place–though it is necessary for one to take place or not to take place.” ~ Aristotle
- “The Play’s the Thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” ~ William Shakespeare
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“Listen to me: a family man is never a real family man. An assassin is never entirely assassin. They play a role, you understand. While a dead man, he is really dead. To be or not to be, right?” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre
- “My favorite play is Hamlet. It was my first love when it comes to Shakespeare, and I’ve read it and seen it performed more than just about every other Shakespeare play. I’ve had the “To be or not to be” monologue memorized since I was 15, and it’s just really close to my heart.” ~ Ian Doescher
- “I teach contentment. And the basic principle of contentment is to drop your ego. Don`t think for a single moment, “To be or not to be.” Just not to be is the rule. What have you gained by trying to be? Just for a change try not to be, and you will be amazed. The moment you are not, there is contentment, there is silence, there is beauty, there is bliss. Meditation is only a methodology to make you aware that your only disease is your ego, and your only health is egolessness.” ~ Rajneesh
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“To be or not to be. That’s not really a question.” ~ Jean-Luc Godard
- “”To be or not to be is” [by William Shakespeare] beyond anything I can comprehend. I understand it on a superficial level, but the depth of it just boggles my mind. I think it’s probably the greatest of all speeches ever written.” ~ Al Pacino
- “[As] authorities “over” us are removed, as we wobble out on our own, the question of whether to be or not to be arises with real relevance for the first time, since the burden of being is felt most fully by the self-determining self.” ~ William H. Gass
- “To date or not to date that is the question. It’s almost as important as Shakespeare’s to be or not to be which deals with death.” ~ Al Goldstein
- “The question is not “To be or not to be,” it is what we should be until we are not.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard
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“It upsets women to be, or not to be, stared at hungrily.” ~ Mignon McLaughlin
- “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? ‘Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there’s the rub.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “To be or not to be is not the question. The question is whether you can transcend these notions.” ~ Nhat Hanh
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“To be, or not to be: what a question!” ~ E. A. Bucchianeri
- “A new report claims that William Shakespeare was a marijuana user and may have been high when he wrote some of his plays. Which explains that one line: ‘To be, or not to be . . . Wait, what was the question?'” ~ Jimmy Fallon
- “To be or not to be, that is the choice” ~ Daniel Lee
To be, or not to be, hamlet contemplates death and suicide, bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse.
