William Shakespeare New Year’s Resolutions

As we open our eyes to another new year, custom dictates we make the odd new year’s resolution to try and keep (at least until the end of January!).

Here at NoSweatShakespeare we’ll continue with the traditional drinking less and exercising more…but we also have a selection of fun Shakespearean New Year’s resolutions you could consider. Take your pick from a selection of New Year’s resolutions Shakespeare’s characters might make, or a range of New Year’s resolutions based on Shakespeare quotes:

New Year’s Resolutions Based on Lines From Shakespeare

For the new year ahead, here’s our take on the top 10 Shakespeare-related New Years resolutions:

Spend more time with the people you love

“Absence from those we love is self from self – a deadly banishment.”

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Scene 1

Do what you fear

“Boldness be my friend. Arm me, audacity, from head to foot.

Cymbeline, Act I, Scene 6

Love your enemies

“Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it doth singe yourself.”

Henry VIII, Act I, Scene 1

Be helpful to others

“How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”

The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Scene 1

Be patient

“How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?”

Othello, Act II, Scene 3

Be positive

“It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

Use time more wisely

“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”

Richard II, Act V, Scene 5

Be tolerant of others

“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?”

The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 1

Learn from your mistakes

“Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”

As You Like It, Act II, Scene 1

Seize the day

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 3

New Year’s Resolutions Shakespeare’s Characters Could Make

Our friends over at About Shakespeare came up with this intriguing concept. Here are a few of our favorite potential new year’s resolutions for Shakespeare’s characters::

Caesar: “Listen to my wife and stay home from work.”

Claudius: “Steer clear of my brother’s wife!”

Henry VI: “Stay out of foreign quarrels.”

Juliet: “Stay off the drugs.”

Falstaff: “Get home before the chimes at midnight.”

King Lear: “Don’t let my kids sweet-talk me.”

Polonius: “Keep my nose out of other peoples’ business.”

Hamlet: “Try and get things done.”

Polonius: “Spend more time supervising my kids.”

Hamlet: “Stop worrying about losing dad all the time.”

Lady Macbeth: “Be happy with what I’ve got.”

Happy new year, and best wishes for 2021, from all of us at NoSweatShakespeare!