出自《哈姆雷特》第三幕第一场
此段的全文如下：
HAMLET
To be, or not to be: that is the question,
Whether'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die,to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. 编辑本段译文
生存还是毁灭, 这是个值得考虑的问题: 默然忍受命运暴虐的毒箭, 或是挺身反抗人世无涯的苦难, 通过斗争把他们扫清，这两种行为，哪一种更高贵? 死了，睡着了，什么都完了。倘若在这一种睡眠之中, 我们心头的创痛，以及其他无数血肉之躯所不能避免的打击，都可以从此消失，这正是我们求之不得的结局。死了，睡着了，睡着了也许还会做梦。嗯， 阻碍就在这: 因为当我们摆脱了这一具腐朽的皮囊以后, 在那死的睡眠里，究竟将要做些什么梦，那不能不使我们踌躇顾虑。人们甘心久困于患难之中，也就是为了这个缘故。谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和讥嘲、压迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛、法律的迁延、官吏的横暴和费尽辛勤所换来的小人的鄙视， 要是他只用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？谁愿意负着这样的重担，在烦劳的生命的压迫下呻吟流汗，倘若不是因为惧怕不可知的死后，惧怕那从来不曾有一个旅人回来过的神秘之国，是它迷惑了我们的意志，使我们宁愿忍受目前的折磨，不敢向我们所不知道的痛苦飞去？这样，重重的顾虑使我们全变成了懦夫，决心的炽热的光彩，被审慎的思维盖上了一层灰色，伟大的事业在这一种考虑下，也会逆流而退，失去了行动的意义。
----《哈姆雷特》（英-莎士比亚）中的经典独白