How did Shakespeare understand human nature?

A braver place

In my heart's love hath no man than yourself.

—1 Henry IV—iv, 1

To give the world assurance of a man.

—Hamlet—iii, 4

A contract of eternal bond of love

Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands.

—Twelfth Night—v. 1

Take thy praise with thee to heaven.

—1 Henry IV—v, 4

A double blessing is a double grace.

—Hamlet—i, 3

A dream itself is but a shadow.

—Hamlet—ii, 2

A fault unknown is as a fault unacted.

—Rape of Lucrece

Against love's fire, fear's frost hath dissolution.

—Rape of Lucrece

Against self-slaughter

There is a prohibition so divine

That cravens my weak hand.

—Cymbeline—iii, 4

A gentler heart did never sway in court.

—1 Henry VI—iii, 2

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross.

—Merchant of Venice—ii, 7

A good heart is the sun and the moon—or rather the sun, for it shines bright and never changes.

—Henry V—v, 2

A good heart's worth gold!

—2 Henry IV—ii, 4

A goodly house—the feast smells well.

—Coriolanus—iv, 5

A good man's fortune may grow out at heels.

—Lear—ii, 2

A greater Power than we can contradict

Hath thwarted our intents.

—Romeo and Juliet—v, 3

A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.

—Henry VI—iii, 1

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,

Where death's approach is seen so terrible!

—2 Henry VI—iii, 3

A jewel in a ten times barred-up chest,

Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.

—Richard II—i, 1

A kinder gentleman treads not the earth.

—Merchant of Venice—ii, 8

Alack! when once our grace we have forgot,

Nothing goes right—we would and we would not.

—Measure for Measure—iv, 4

Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost!

—Venus and Adonis

A light heart lives long.

—Love's Labour's Lost—v, 1

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them I do repent.

—Winter's Tale—iii, 2

All friends shall taste

The wages of their virtue, and all foes

The cup of their deservings.

—Lear—v, 3

All hoods make not monks.

—Henry VIII—iii, 1

All men are not alike—alas, good neighbour!

—Much Ado About Nothing—iii, 5

All places that the eye of Heaven visits

Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.

—Richard II—i, 3

All's well that ends well.

—All's Well That Ends Well—iv, 4

All that glisters is not gold.

—Merchant of Venice—ii, 7

All that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

—Hamlet—i, 2

All the world's a stage.

—All's Well That Ends Well—ii, 7

A loyal, just, and upright gentleman.

—Richard II—i, 2

And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,

So honour peereth in the meanest habit.

—Taming of the Shrew—iv, 3

And do as adversaries do in law,

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

—Taming of the Shrew—i, 2

And God befriend us, as our cause is just.

—1 Henry IV—v, 1

And I by this will be a gainer too,

For bending all my loving thoughts on thee.

—Sonnet 88

And oftentimes, excusing of a fault

Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.

—King John—iv, 2

And poise the cause in justice' equal scales

Whose beams stand sure, whose rightful cause prevails.

—2 Henry VI—ii, 1

And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament,

We will unite the white rose and the red.

—Richard III—v, 4

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—ii, 1

And what have kings that privates have not too?

—Henry V—iv, 1

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

Merry Wives of Windsor—ii, 2

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

—Hamlet—i, 4

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.

—Macbeth—iv, 3

An habitation giddy and unsure

Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart.

—2 Henry IV—i, 3

An old man, broken with the storms of state,

Is come to lay his weary bones among ye—

Give him a little earth for charity!

—Henry VIII—iv, 2

A peace above all earthly dignities—

A still and quiet conscience

—Henry VIII—iii, 2

A rarer spirit never

Did steer humanity.

—Antony and Cleopatra—v, 1

As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.

—Richard II—iv, 1

Ask God for temperance—that is the appliance only which your disease requires.

—Henry VIII—i, 1

A smile re-cures the wounding of a frown.

—Venus and Adonis

Awake remembrance of these valiant dead.

—Henry V—i, 2

A widow cries—be husband to me, heavens!

—King John—iii, 1

A world of earthly blessings to my soul,

If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.

—2 Henry VI—i, 1