"A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain: But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day."

"Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as a page named Cesario"

"Sebastian – Viola's twin brother"

"Duke Orsino – Duke of Illyria"

"Olivia – a wealthy countess"

"Malvolio – steward in Olivia's household"

"Maria – Olivia's gentlewoman"

"Sir Toby Belch – Olivia's uncle"

"Sir Andrew Aguecheek – a friend of Sir Toby"

"Feste – Olivia's servant, a jester"

"Fabian – a servant in Olivia's household"

"Antonio – a sea captain and friend to Sebastian"

"Valentine and Curio – gentlemen attending on the Duke"

"A Sea Captain – a friend to Viola"

"Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits."

"He was more than over-shoes in love."

"I have no other but a woman's reason: I think him so, because I think him so."

"Fie, fie! how wayward is this foolish love, That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse, And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod!"

"O hateful hands, to tear such loving words! Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey, And kill the bees, that yield it, with your stings! I'll kiss each several paper for amends. Look, here is writ — kind Julia. — Unkind Julia! As in revenge of thy ingratitude, I throw thy name against the bruising stones, Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain. And here is writ — love-wounded Proteus. Poor wounded name! My bosom, as a bed, Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be thoroughly healed; And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss. But twice or thrice was Proteus written down. Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away, Till I have found each letter in the letter, Except mine own name: that some whirlwind bear Unto a ragged, fearful, hanging rock, And throw it thence into the raging sea! Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ, — Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus, To the sweet Julia. That I'll tear away; And yet I will not, sith so prettily He couples it to his complaining names. Thus will I fold them one upon another, Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will."

"Oh, how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day; Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away!"

"I was in love with my bed."

"And if it please you, so; if not, why, so."

"O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible, As a nose on a man’s face, or a weathercock on a steeple."

"What! gone without a word? Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak; For truth hath better deeds, than words, to grace it."

"Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with Sir Proteus to the Imperial's court. I think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives. My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear. He is a stone, a very pebble stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog. A Jew would have wept to have seen our parting. Why, my grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it. This shoe is my father. No, this left shoe is my father. No, no, this left shoe is my mother. Nay, that cannot be so neither. Yes, it is so, it is so — it hath the worser sole. This shoe, with the hole in it, is my mother, and this my father. A vengeance on't! There 'tis. Now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand. This hat is Nan, our maid. I am the dog. — no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog — O, the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so, so. Now come I to my father: Father, your blessing. Now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping. Now should I kiss my father — well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother. O, that shoe could speak now, like a wood woman! Well, I kiss her — why, there 'tis: here's my mother's breath up and down. Now come I to my sister; mark the moan she makes. Now the dog all this while sheds not a tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears."

"A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off."

"When I was sick, you gave me bitter pills; And I must minister the like to you."

"She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold."

"For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy."

"Or as one nail by strength drives out another, So the remembrance of my former love Is by a newer object quite forgotten."

"Didst thou but know the inly touch of love; Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow, As seek to quench the fire of love with words."