"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 | Verified source: The Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare, 1623)
Evidence: He that is giddy thinks the world turns round. (Act 5, Scene 2). This line appears in Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, spoken by the Widow in Act 5, Scene 2 (often numbered around line 20 in modern editions). The earliest widely recognized print publication for The Taming of the Shrew is in the First Folio (Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies), published in 1623. While the play was likely written and performed earlier (commonly dated early 1590s), the first publication of the text in Shakespeare’s collected works is 1623. Other candidates (1) The Plays of William Shakespeare (William Shakespeare, 1813) compilation95.0% ... He that is giddy , thinks the world turns - round . To come at first when he doth send for her , Shall win the wa... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Shakespeare, William. (2026, February 27). 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. February 27, 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, 27 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-that-is-giddy-thinks-the-world-turns-round-27533/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.





