In the west vestibule, above the door leading from the shop into the Great Hall:
I shower a welcome on ye; welcome all.
—SHAKESPEARE
In the west vestibule, above the door leading from the shop into the west corridor:
What needs my Shakespeare
For his honor'd bones
The labor of an age
In piled stones?
Thou in our wonder
And astonishment
Hast built thyself
A live-long monument.
—JOHN MILTON
Inside the Great Hall, above the door at the west end (representing the United States):
There is not anything of human trial
That ever love deplored or sorrow knew,
No glad fulfilment and no sad denial,
Beyond the pictured truth that Shakespeare drew.
—WILLIAM WINTER
Inside the Great Hall, over the door at the east end (representing Great Britain):
Thrice happy the nation that Shakespeare has charm'd.
More happy the bosoms his genius has warm'd!
Ye children of nature, of fashion and whim,
He painted you all, all join to praise him.
—DAVID GARRICK
In the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room, at the west end above the entrance doors:
I do not remember
That any book or
Person or event ever
Produced so great
An effect on me as
Shakespeare's plays.
—GOETHE
Shakespeare is fertility,
Force, exuberance, no
Reticence, no binding,
No economy, the
Inordinate and tranquil
Prodigality of the creator.
—HUGO
In the Paster Reading Room, above the fireplace:
England's genius filled all measure
Of heart and soul, of strength and pleasure,
Gave to the mind its emperor,
And life was larger than before:
Nor sequent centuries could hit
Orbit and sum of Shakespeare's wit.
The men who lived with him became
Poets, for the air was fame
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
In the Paster Reading Room, below the replica of the Shakespeare memorial bust at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford upon Avon (see translation of Latin lines below):
Iudicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem,
Terra tegit, populus maeret, Olympus habet
Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast,
Read if thou canst, whom envious Death hast plast
With in this monument Shakspeare: with whome,
Quick Nature dide: whose name, doth deck ys Tombe,
Far more, then cost: sieh all yt He hath writt,
Leaves living art, but page, to serve his witt.
Obiit ano Doi 1616
Aetatis. 53 Die 23 Aps.
Translation of Latin inscriptions:
In judgment a Pylius (Nestor), in genius a Socrates, in art a Maro (Virgil)–
The earth covers him, the people mourn for him, Olympus holds him.
Died 1616 A.D.
Aged 53. The 23rd day of April.
