The contribution of William Shakespeare to English literature and language is immense and commendable. He has coined a variety of phrases and usages which, in course of time have found way into the literature. At least some of them were also translated and used in regional languages also.
Some of the Phrases coined by William Shakespeare through his words are as follows. Most of them flow from his plays, both comedy and tragedy plays. Not all sources of phrases have been indicated.
William Shakespeare Phrases
Better foot before (“best foot forward”) (King John)
The better part of valor is discretion (I Henry IV)
In a better world than this (As You Like It)
Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Hamlet)
Brave new world (The Tempest)
Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew)
Breathed his last (3 Henry VI)
Brevity is the soul of wit (Hamlet)
Refuse to budge an inch (Measure for Measure / Taming of the Shrew)
Cold comfort (The Taming of the Shrew / King John)
Conscience does make cowards of us all (Hamlet)
Come what come may (“come what may”) (Macbeth)
Comparisons are odorous (Much Ado about Nothing)
Crack of doom (Macbeth)
malignancy (Twelfth Night, seems possible)
manager (Love’s Labour’s Lost / Midsummer Night’s Dream; first attestation as noun)
marketable (As You Like It; first use as adjective)
militarist (All’s Well that Ends Well)
mimic (Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Mum’s the word (Henry VI, Part 2)
Neither here nor there (Othello)
Send him packing (Henry IV)
Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV)
There’s method in my madness (Hamlet)
Too much of a good thing (As You Like It)
Vanish into thin air (Othello)
to thine own self be true
too much of a good thing
towering passion
The crack of doom
The game is up
Love is blind
Like the Dickens
Night owl
More fool you
A sorry sight (Macbeth)
As dead as a doornail (Henry VI)
Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2)
Fair play (The Tempest)
I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello)
In a pickle (The Tempest)
barefaced
be all and end all
break the ice
breathe one’s last
leapfrog
live long day
design (several, seems unlikely)
dexterously (Twelfth Night)
dialogue (several, seems already familiar)
disgraceful (I Henry VI; means “not graceful”)
dishearten (Henry V)
to dislocate (King Lear, refers to anatomy)
Milk of human kindness
Short shrift
Stony hearted
Up in arms
Woe is me
When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in ballallions
Too much of a good thing
Long and short of it
heart of gold
heartsick
hot-blooded
housekeeping
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