20 Shakespeare-themed new year’s resolutions for 2020
Let the words of Shakespeare himself guide you through the year ahead
1. Be more optimistic
‘There live we as merry as the day is long.’
— Much Ado About Nothing
2. Take public transport more often
‘Traffic confound thee!’
— Timon of Athens
3. Party hard
‘To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is early: so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes.’
— Twelfth Night

Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank: Twelfth Night, 2016. Photographer: Cesare De Giglio
4. Learn to appreciate time to yourself
‘I myself am best when least in company.’
— Twelfth Night
5. Be more open about your feelings
‘I will wear my heart on my sleeve.’
— Othello
6. Lower your expectations
‘Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises.’
— All’s Well That Ends Well
7. Travel more
‘The world’s mine oyster.’
— The Merry Wives of Windsor
8. Face challenges head on
‘This is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap. For in my way it lies.’
— Macbeth

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2019. Photographer: Tristram Kenton
9. Spend more time with friends and family
‘Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.’
— A Midsummer Night’s Dream
10. Learn something new
‘Here let us breathe and haply institute a course of learning and ingenious studies.’
— The Taming of the Shrew
11. Stand up for yourself
‘Then I defy you, stars!’
— Romeo and Juliet
12. Laugh more
‘I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.’
— Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing, 2017. Photographer: Tristram Kenton.
13. Believe in yourself
‘This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’
— Hamlet
14. Save money
‘I say, put money in thy purse.’
— Othello
15. Be more honest
‘I must be cruel to be kind.’
— Hamlet

Love’s Labour’s Lost, 2018. Photographer: Marc Brenner
16. Read more
‘Painfully to pore upon a book to seek the light of truth.’
— Love’s Labour’s Lost
17. Be more minimalist
‘All that glisters is not gold.’
— The Merchant of Venice
18. Get organised
‘The readiness is all.’
— Hamlet
19. Be more generous
‘My good will is great, though the gift small.’
— Pericles
20. Do more exercise
‘To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit.’
— As You Like It

As You Like It, 2019. Photographer: Helen Murray