“The world is a stage, but the play is badly written.”

“The world is a stage and the play is badly cast.”

“Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.”

“Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

“Know thyself' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, 'Be thyself' shall be written.”

“If one plays good music, people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk.”