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No one has ever written in the English language as marvelously as William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s brilliance is reflected in the fact that most of us quote him every week, but don’t even realize it.
Have you ever felt footloose and fancy free?
Been left high and dry?
Passed a test that was a piece of cake?
Have you ever sent someone packing?
Or refused to budge an inch?
Been tongue-tied?
Known someone who was a tower of strength?
Suspected you had been hoodwinked?
Found yourself In a pickle?
Or knitted your brow?
Have you ever slept not one wink?
Laughed yourself into stitches?
Realized it was high time you did something?
Explained that this is the long and short of it?
Believed the game is up?
Embraced your own flesh and blood?
Found yourself laid low?
Worked, talked, or slept till the crack of dawn?
Kept a commitment through thick and thin?
Suspected foul play?
Eliminated a problem in one fell swoop?
Wondered about a situation for which there is no rhyme or reason?
Bid something or somebody good riddance?
Become a laughingstock?
Declared that something was dead as a doornail?
Said for goodness’ sake?
Declared that it’s all Greek to me?
If so, then you’ve been borrowing the words of history’s greatest playwright. Not that Shakespeare would care in the least. Literary critic Elliot Engel observes that his phrases were “so perfect and clever in their expression that people recognized them as works of genius, stole them on the spot, used them in front of their children, and they became part of common parlance.”
Most of us are considerably less confident in our own ability to find just the right words to express our deepest sentiments.
That’s why Hallmark exists, right?
Or, far better still, we can surrender our hang-ups about originality and profundity and speak to others with kindness and sincerity. Here are some all-time winners:
Thanks.
I’m so glad to know you.
I’m grateful we’re in this together.
What can I do to help?
You always know how to bring out the best.
I so appreciate you.
I love you.
As the writer of Proverbs puts it, “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (16:24).
The effect of such simple affirmations on other human beings is impossible to overstate.
Especially if (as Shakespeare first put it) they come from the bottom of your heart.
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