Hamlet's soliloquy

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles nd by opposing end them! To die, to sleep-"o more--and by a sleep to say we end The hearta#he, and the thousand natural sho#ks That flesh is heir to! 'Tis a #onsummation $e%outly to be wished! To die, to sleep-To sleep--per#han#e to dream: ay, there's the rub, &or in that sleep of death what dreams may #ome When we ha%e shuffled off this mortal #oil, 'ust gi%e us pause! There's the respe#t That makes #alamity of so long life! &or who would bear the whips and s#orns of time, Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's #ontumely The pangs of despised lo%e, the law's delay, The insolen#e of offi#e, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin( Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, )ut that the dread of something after death, The undis#o%ered #ountry, from whose bourn "o tra%eller returns, pu**les the will, nd makes us rather bear those ills we ha%e Than fly to others that we know not of( Thus #ons#ien#e does make #owards of us all, nd thus the nati%e hue of resolution +s si#klied o'er with the pale #ast of thought, nd enterprise of great pit#h and moment With this regard their #urrents turn awry nd lose the name of a#tion!