33 Shakespeare quotes for every Hong Kong student situation

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William Shakespeare wrote a lot of brilliant lines that still apply to modern, even though they're more than 400 years old

Lucy ChristieKarly CoxHeidi Yeung |
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In honour of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, here are 33 quotes from the Bard to throw out next time you find yourself in one of these situations.

1) When your exam is nothing like what you were told to prepare for:

"Minion, thou liest!" - The Taming of the Shrew

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2) On any exam day:

"True is it that we have seen better days." - As You Like It

 

3) When your mum is always on your back about why you didn't get a 5**: 

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - Hamlet

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4) When your favourite teacher announces a surprise test: 

"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." - Macbeth

 

5) When you accidentally fall asleep as you were studying what was meant to be an all-nighter right before an exam:

"I am fortune's fool!" - Romeo and Juliet

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6) When you get to the classical Chinese reading passage of the Chinese DSE:

"A man can die but once." - Henry IV (Part 2)

 

7) When you get picked to present a project to the class (much against your will):

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." - Twelfth Night

 

8) When your teacher praises you for knowing an obscure answer:

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" - A Midsummer Night's Dream
 

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9) When you've been practising something for ages and finally get it right, then some Form One student gets it right first time:

“He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.” - Twelfth Night

 

10) When your teacher asks how long you spent on your homework:

"For ever and a day." - As You Like It

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11) On the day of your last DSE exam ever:

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!" - Henry V

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12) When you're called on in class to answer a question and you just have no clue:

“I am not bound to please thee with my answers.” - The Merchant of Venice

 

13) When your teacher says you didn't write enough for an assignment:

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” - Hamlet

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14) When someone at school starts a nasty rumour about you:

"Throw your vile guesses in the devil's teeth." - Othello

 

15) When you get your exam schedule and you've got three on one day:

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!" - Hamlet

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16) When you get to Form One and your teacher makes you choose an English name:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Romeo and Juliet

 

17) When your friends asked what you wrote for the DSE English Paper 2:

"Words, words, words." - Hamlet

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18) When someone is giving you attitude for no apparent reason:

“Why, what's the matter. That you have such a February face. So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” - Much Ado About Nothing

 

19) When you talk to anyone who doesn't even know what DSEs are:

"A plague on both your houses!" - Romeo and Juliet

 

20) When that one friend who's NEVER on time misses an exam:

“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” - The Merry Wives of Windsor

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21) When your teacher announces homework over the summer holidays:

"These words are razors to my wounded heart." - Titus Andronicus

 

22) When your exam results are SO much better than expected:

“Now I will believe that there are unicorns ...” - The Tempest

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23) When you are trying to write something poetic but can't think of anything:

"For the rain it raineth every day." - Twelfth Night

 

24) Waiting for your bus after school:

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air." - Macbeth

 

25) When your best friend tells you her crush doesn't have a favourite band:

“The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted." - The Merchant of Venice

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26) When your best friend gets dumped:

"Love is merely a madness." - As You Like It

 

27) When you pretend not to care about being voted the leader of the group presentation:

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." - Henry IV (Part 2)

 

28) When your project teammates are refusing to pull their weight:

"Nothing comes of nothing." - King Lear

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29) When your lazy classmate moans about how tired they are:

“How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath. To say to me that thou art out of breath?” - Romeo and Juliet

 

30) When someone from the popular group asks why you're so hostile all the time:

"If I be waspish, best beware my sting." - The Taming of the Shrew

 

31) When someone gives you a really unnecessarily detailed breakdown of what they wrote on the history exam:

“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.” - The Tempest

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32) When your friend is convinced they flunked their exam:

"Be collected: No more amazement: tell your piteous heart, there's no harm done." - The Tempest

 

33) When your parents ask how today's exam went:

“I do feel it gone, But know not how it went.” - The Winter's Tale

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