When most people hear the word "Shakespeare" they tend to think of British people in a ruff and tights holding a skull (in a position I have chosen to call "Yorricking") and speaking in a strange language. But really, the language of Shakespeare is no different from learning Spanish. In fact, it's even easier since you've already gotten a jump on some of the vocabulary.

If you can get past any beef you may have with the language, you have a body of work that so greatly portrays the human condition that you can start to understand why so many people still care about some stuff a dead white guy wrote 400 years ago. Shakespeare wrote common characters just as often as he wrote about kings, but no matter who is speaking, his plays are full of awesome quotes that are 100% appropriate nowadays. So here are X quotes from Shakespeare that you need to integrate into your daily life.

1. "Brevity is the soul of wit."

- Hamlet, Act II Scene 2

Modern translation: "The best way to speak is by being brief."

Context: Polonius is telling King Claudius that his step-son/nephew, Hamlet, has gone crazy. This quote is hilarious in context. Why? Because Polonius is full of (intentionally) long winded speeches. Next time you want to tell someone to stop talking so much, use this quote.

2. "To thine own self be true."

- Hamlet, Act I Scene 3

Modern translation: "Be true to yourself."

Context: Another Polonius quote, but this one is to his son, Laertes, who is leaving home for the first time. Out of context, this is a pretty famous inspirational quote, and in context, it's still meant to motive Laertes as he goes off into the world. Plus, it makes a great little cameo in the movie, Clueless.

3. "Rude am I in my speech."

- Othello, Act I Scene 3

Modern translation: "I'm not a smooth talker."

Context: Othello married Desdemona. Desdemona's dad is not happy about it. Othello stands up for himself, but he prefaces his speech by saying he's not great with words so he's just going to speak plainly. It's basically a fancier way of saying you're not good at speaking fancily.

4. "I love nothing in the world so much as you. Is that not strange?"

- Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV Scene 1

Modern Translation: "Wanna hear something funny? I'm in love with you. *awkward laughter*"

Context: Benedick and Beatrice used to date but then they broke up and can't stand to be around each other. Their "friends" believe that the two still love each other and conspire to make them fall in love. After both witness Beatrice's cousin, Hero, getting abandoned at the alter, Benedick decided to admit that he loves her.
Admitting you love someone for the first time is scary. Benedick and Beatrice are both so refreshingly nervous around each other. They're terrified of being vulnerable with each other, and yet they can't help how they feel. There's a great version of this bit with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Also, a bunch of folks in New Zealand got together and did a modern adaptation, watch the whole thing here.

5. "I would eat his heart in the marketplace"

- Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV Scene 1

Modern Translation: "I am so mad that I want to kill him and literally eat his heart in front of everyone."

Context: In the same scene as the quote above, Beatrice is so angry at the guy who dumped her cousin (Claudio) that she wishes she had the courage to kill him and well, eat his heart in the marketplace.

Have you ever been so angry at someone that you would eat their heart in the marketplace? I'm sure you have been. Shakespeare is a FANTASTIC place to find more original insults. Speaking of which....

6. "Thou lump of foul deformity"/"Defused infection of a man"/"Thou poisonous bunch-back'd toad"

- Richard III

Modern translation: "You're a gross deformed lump"/"You look diseased"/"You look like a poisonous toad"

Context: Before Henry VIII was king (you know, the one with all the wives), there was a bunch of battles for the throne between two families that had the same ancestor who was king. Think Game of Thrones. Shakespeare's Richard is a mix of Tyrion Lannister and Littlefinger. There are a lot of jokes made at his expense because he's a hunchback, but he's also really creepy and scheming for power.

Need a fresh, new way to insult someone? Open up Shakespeare's histories. Richard III is full of them, but there's a great slew of them said by Queen Margaret in any of the parts of Henry VI.

The BBC has a mini series called The Hollow Crown, which is all of Shakespeare's Histories, in order, with actors playing the same characters from play to play. The histories aren't often thought of as being so interconnected, so the series lines that all up. Plus, a bunch of actors from Game of Thrones are in it, and Benedict Cumberbatch plays Richard!

I honestly think of people hugged Richard more, the plays would have turned out a little differently.

7. "Though she be but little, she is fierce!"

- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III Scene 2

Modern translation: "She may be short, but don't mess with her!"

Context: Hermia's boyfriend has been given a love potion accidentally and thinks he loves Helena. Hermia thinks that Helena is just playing a trick on her and gets angry. Helena is terrified of (short) angry Hermia.

I have seen this quote all over Etsy under the Big/Little tag, but I wanted to include it all the same. As someone who is considered "short", I love this quote. I love the scene it comes from! Helena makes jokes about Hermia being short, and Hermia replies by calling Helena a "may-pole" (translation: gangly and too tall). It is the perfect quote for the short person in your life.

8. "Reason and love keep little company together nowadays."

- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III Scene 1

Modern translation: "Love doesn't follow reason."

Context: A fairy queen, Titania, has been given a love potion to fall in love with a man, named Nick Bottom, who has been transformed into a donkey. Aside from the amusing donkey/ass/bottom parallels, Bottom is one of the great comedic characters. Almost everything he says is ridiculous. But when Queen Titania says she is in love with him, all he does is shrug and say, "Well, love doesn't really have any rhyme or reason to it, so I'll just go with this."

By the way, if you are not intrigued by the fact that the last two quotes are from the same play but don't have overlapping characters and have a crazy/confusing plot attached to them, you should check out A Midsummer Night's Dream. There have been various filmed adaptations, or you can watch SparkNotes' video summary.

9. "[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

- Macbeth, Act V Scene 5

Modern translation: "Life is a story created by an idiot. It's full of noise and animalistic emotions, but it all is meaningless."

Context: Macbeth's wife just died. But that's not why he's having an existential crisis. See, Macbeth killed all these people to become king, but it's all made him cynical, depressed, not be able to sleep, and have hallucinations. This is all just a Nihilist Meme waiting to be made.

10. "That."

- Much Ado About Nothing, Act II Scene 3

Why just use an ordinary conjunction when you can quote The Bard?