"We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from... Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements"
About this Quote
The subtext is less physics than mood. Shakespeare’s drama is crowded with apparent annihilations: reputations ruined, kingdoms toppled, lovers “dead” to each other, bodies actually dead. This line pressures that theatrical finality. It insists that loss is never clean, that consequences don’t vanish on cue. Guilt, desire, and political violence may “dissolve,” but they persist in new forms, circulating through families and states like elements in a closed system. That’s why the sentence turns from creation to return: it’s not comforting so much as unsparing.
Contextually, it fits an early modern world in tension between Christian creation ex nihilo and revived classical atomism. The phrasing argues with the supernatural without naming it, offering a materialist logic that can sit inside a culture still officially metaphysical. Coming from a dramatist, the intent isn’t to publish a scientific thesis; it’s to give audiences a bracing framework for tragedy: the curtain falls, but nothing is truly over.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: The Hidden Geometry of Life: The Science and Spirituality... (Karen L. French, 2014) modern compilationISBN: 9781780288451 · ID: ixPLCQAAQBAJ
Evidence: ... We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing , since things require a seed to start from . Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing , but all things return dissolved into their elements . ... LUCRETIUS , ROMAN ... Other candidates (1) De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) (William Shakespeare, -55)50.0% Therefore we must confess that nothing can come from nothing, since all things must have seed, from which each being ... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Shakespeare, William. (2026, February 27). We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from... Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-conceive-of-matter-being-formed-of-27607/
Chicago Style
Shakespeare, William. "We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from... Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements." FixQuotes. February 27, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-conceive-of-matter-being-formed-of-27607/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from... Therefore there is not anything which returns to nothing, but all things return dissolved into their elements." FixQuotes, 27 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-conceive-of-matter-being-formed-of-27607/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.










