"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 | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Shakespeare, William. (2026, January 15). 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. January 15, 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, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-conceive-of-matter-being-formed-of-27607/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.










