学英语的人多少都知道一些莎士比亚的名句，各类媒介也会传播不少据说出自莎翁的名言。可是，有些所谓的莎翁名言根本不是他说的。以下这12句就是代表。
1. “When I saw you I fell in love and you smiled because you knew.”
“我初次见你，一见钟情;你莞尔一笑，早已知晓。”
Where it’s actually from: An 1893 Italian opera, Falstaff, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito. The opera itself is based on The Merry Wives Of Windsor, written by the Bard himself, but the line is not found in the play itself, only in the opera.
真正出处：1893年的意大利歌剧，《福斯塔夫》，脚本作者为阿里格·博伊托。歌剧根据莎翁创作的戏剧《温莎的风流娘们儿》改编，但这句话并非出自于这部戏剧，而只在歌剧中出现。
2. “Love is a wonderful terrible thing.”
“爱是一件美妙而可怕的事。”
Where it’s actually from: Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado. Also the quote is actually, “Love—the most wonderful and most terrible thing in the world.”
真正出处：《加布里埃拉、康乃馨和桂皮》，作者是若热·亚马多。此外原句应该是“爱是世上最美妙而最可怕的事。”
3. “The earth has music for those who listen.”
“世上的音乐为听音乐的人而存在。”
Where it’s actually from: The quote is definitively not in any of Shakespeare’s written works. It’s most commonly attributed to poet and author George Santayana or Oliver Wendall Holmes.
真正出处：可以肯定的是莎士比亚的作品中并没有这句话。人们通常将其归于诗人及作家乔治·桑塔亚那或奥利弗·温德尔·霍姆斯名下。
4. “You say you love rain…”
“你说你爱雨……”
Where it’s actually from: A turkish poem titled, I Am Afraid. In addition, umbrellas weren’t common in Europe until the 17th century, roughly a 100 years after Shakespeare died.
真正出处：土耳其诗歌《我害怕》。此外，雨伞在欧洲普及是始于17世纪，那时莎士比亚已经离世100年了。
5. “The less you speak of greatness, the more shall I think of it.”
“你越少提及自己的伟大，就越让我想到你的伟大。”
Where it’s actually from: Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Edward Coke in 1601 during a quarrel in a bar.
真正出处：这是1601年弗朗西斯·培根与爱德华·科克在酒吧里吵架时说的。
6. “So dear I love him that with him/All deaths I could endure/Without him, live no life.”
我是那么爱他/有他在，我可以忍受种种死亡/没有他，我就没有生活可言。”
Where it’s actually from: Paradise Lost by John Milton.
真正出处：约翰·弥尔顿的《失乐园》。
7. “When words fail music speaks.”
“言语失声时，音乐会响起。”
Where it’s actually from:This quote is paraphrased from Hans Christian Anderson’s “What The Moon Saw” (from What The Moon Saw: And Other Tales), roughly two centuries after Shakespeare died. The actual quote is, “when words fail, sounds can often speak.”
真正出处：改述于汉斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生的童话《月亮看见了》(来自《月亮看见了及其他故事》)。这句话在莎士比亚离世两个世纪后才出现。原句是“言语无法表达时，声音尚能说话”。