William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was England’s greatest author and amongst his voluminous works are numerous references to astronomical, as well as astrological bodies, such as stars, planets, the moon or meteors. Here are a few of my favourites astronomy related Shakespeare quotes:
ASTRONOMY
“Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck,
And yet methinks I have astronomy.
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or season’s quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Or say with princes if it shall go well.”
(Sonnet 14)
“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
(Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)
“The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order.”
(Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, Scene 3)
“I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.”
(Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1)
“By being seldom seen, I could not stir
But like a comet I was wondered at.”
(Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3)
“O, swear not by the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circle orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable”
(Romeo And Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)
ASTROLOGY
“My father compounded with my mother under the Dragon’s tail [constelation Draco], and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows, I am rough and lecherous. Tut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing.”
(King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2)
“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.”
(King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2)
“The bay-trees in our country are all withered,
And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven.
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap;
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.”
(Richard II, Act 2, Scene 4)
“Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky.”
(Henry VI, Part 1, Act 1, Scene 1)
“We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance.”
– (King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2)