Many English speakers would be surprised to learn how many times they quote Shakespeare without realizing it. Have you ever seen someone in your “mind’s eye”? Have you or someone you know ever said, “There is method in my madness”? Both of these phrases come from the play Hamlet. Over the years, many of these statements have changed from being said again and again. The saying “method in my madness” comes from Hamlet when he was pretending to be insane. He said, “Thought this be madness, yet there is method in it,”. Have you ever waited “on bated breath”? well, that’s from Shakespeare as well! It is always good to know how phrases were first used. Before you hand someone a box of candy and say, “sweets to the sweet”, you may want to know someone said that while standing next to a grave in Hamlet!
