He was not of an age, but for all time!
Ben Jonson, First Folio of Shakespeare's
collected works, 1623
I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found
it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me.
Charles Darwin
He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient
poets had the largest and most comprehensive soul.
John Dryden, "Essay of Dramatic Poesy", 1668
We can say of Shakespeare, that never has a man
turned so little knowledge to such great account.
T.S. Eliot,
lecture
The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he
is really very good—in spite of all the people who say he is very
good.
Robert Graves, The Observer,
"Sayings of the Week", 1964
Shakespeare never had six lines together without a fault. Perhaps
you may find seven, but this does not refute my general assertion.
Samuel Johnson, Life of Johnson (James
Boswell), 1769
Shakespeare — whetting, frustrating, surprising and gratifying.
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The Crack-Up, 1945
(He) has become a black hole. Light, insight, intelligence, matter
— all pour ceaselessly into him, as critics are drawn into the densening
vortex of his reputation; they add their own weight to his increasing
mass. The light from other stars — other poets, other dramatists
— is wrenched and bent as it passes by him on its way to us. He
warps cultural space-time; he distorts our view of the universe
around him.... But Shakespeare himself no longer transmits visible
light; his stellar energies have been trapped within the gravity
well of his own reputation. We find in Shakespeare only what we
bring to him or what others have left behind; he gives us back our
own values.
Gary Taylor, Reinventing
Shakespeare, 1989
(The) Shakespearean cast of thought (is)
a fine credulity about everything, kept in check by a lively skepticism
about everything.
Robertson Davies,
Murther and Walking Spirits, 1991
When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder
That such
trivial people should muse and thunder
In such lovely language.
D.H. Lawrence, When I Read Shakespeare
With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer,
not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise
Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his.... It would positively
be a relief to me to dig him up and throw stones at him.
George Bernard Shaw, Dramatic Opinions
and Essays, 1907
One of the greatest geniuses that ever existed, Shakespeare,
undoubtedly wanted taste.
Horace Walpole,
letter, 1764
Shakespeare’s fault is not the greatest into which a poet may
fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.
Denis Diderot, "On Dramatic Poetry", 1758
Shakespeare was the great one before us. His place was between
God and despair.
Eugène Ionesco,
interview International Herald Tribune, 1988
I could say that Shakespeare surpasses literature altogether,
if I knew what I meant.
Virginia Woolf,
diary entry, 1930
Shakespeare’s name, you may depend on it, stands absurdly too
high and will go down.
George Gordon Noel
Byron, letter, 1814
