But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the … sun, and that means another morning of opportunity to share some Shakespeare quotes that can be bent into great suggestions for those who own and run small businesses.

(Note: Like many things regarding Shakespeare, there is debate about precisely when he was born and died. We’re following the tradition of observing both his birth (1564) and death (1616) on April 23.)


See also on SmallBusiness.com | On The 400th Anniversary of Cervantes’ Death, The Top 35 Small Business Quotes From Don Quixote


1. To business that we love we rise betime, And go to’t with delight.

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 4


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2. There is a tide in the affairs of men…

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3


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3. Screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail.

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7


4. All things are ready if our minds be so.

Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3


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5. Brevity is the soul of wit.

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2


6. Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3


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7. The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2


Also on SmallBusiness.com |  Monday Morning Small Business Motivational Mashup: Goethe & Star Wars


Featured Photo: By Shadowgate via Flickr | cc-by-2.0

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