"He that is giddy thinks the world turns round"
About this Quote
The intent is diagnostic. Shakespeare is interested in how perception, especially distorted perception, manufactures certainty. "Thinks" is the pressure point - not "the world turns", but "thinks" it does - revealing the mind’s talent for turning symptom into story. The line indicts a common human reflex: when we’re overwhelmed, ashamed, drunk on power, or simply scared, we externalize the disturbance. We call our panic "facts". We call our instability "history."
Contextually, this fits Shakespeare’s larger obsession with misprision: characters who mistake appearances for truths and then build entire plots on that mistake. In the plays, giddiness can be literal (intoxication, faintness) and social (ambition, jealousy, erotic infatuation). The subtext is political, too: leaders and crowds alike can get "giddy", and once they do, their misperceptions feel cosmological - as if the world itself must be corrected to match their spinning.
It works because it’s bodily. No sermon, no abstract philosophy. Just vertigo - and the self-serving grandeur of blaming the globe.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Shakespeare, William. (2026, January 14). He that is giddy thinks the world turns round. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-that-is-giddy-thinks-the-world-turns-round-27533/
Chicago Style
Shakespeare, William. "He that is giddy thinks the world turns round." FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-that-is-giddy-thinks-the-world-turns-round-27533/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"He that is giddy thinks the world turns round." FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-that-is-giddy-thinks-the-world-turns-round-27533/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.





