Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
- Source
- Hamlet
- Date
- c. 1600
- Local voice
- Fictional character · Hamlet
Meaning of “There is nothing either good or bad, but…”
The line separates events from the judgments people place on them, a useful distinction for thinking about perception and response.
Where does it come from?
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2; Hamlet says this to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while explaining that Denmark feels like a prison to him. The line is dramatic dialogue, not a detached psychological proposition by Shakespeare.
Why the local voice matters
Hamlet says this to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.
