Shakespeare Quotes on the Environment
Quotes about the environment that resonate with us today
Shakespeare's works are as relevant to 21st century audiences as they were to 16th century ones because he knew the true meaning and complexities of life. These well-known quotes show he understood the environment and our relationship to it, and offer inspirational words as we face one of the biggest challenges of our time.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin…
— Troilus and Cressida, Act 3 Scene 3
For, being green, there is great hope…
— Henry VI Part 2, Act 3 Scene 1
Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows. Each thing meets In mere oppugnancy. The bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores And make a sop of all this solid globe…
— Troilus and Cressida, Act 1 Scene 3
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 1
But I am now about no waste; I am about thrift.
— The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1 Scene 3
And thorough this distemperature we see / The seasons alter…
— A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 1
All things are ready if our minds be so.
— Henry V, Act 4 Scene 3
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, / Which we ascribe to heaven.
— All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 1 Scene 1
Nature craves / All dues be rendered to their owners.
— Troilus and Cressida, Act 2 Scene 2
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
— A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 1
O, I have ta'en / Too little care of this.
— King Lear, Act 3 Scene 4
The skies look grimly / And threaten present blusters.
— The Winter’s Tale, Act 3 Scene 3