Shakespeare Quotes That Sum Up the Year 2017

Does anyone else feel like 2017 was simultaneously really short and really long? I feel like I’ve aged a thousand years, and yet I also feel like February was yesterday. This is probably because roughly a billion things happened over the course of these past twelve months. Some of them were good, some of them were terrible, and one of them was Sophie Turner getting engaged to Joe Jonas, which I wish I had an opinion about because I want to be part of the conversation.

Anyway, here’s a quick recap of everything we went through this year, summed up in Shakespeare quotes to make it all sound a little more eloquent and reasonable rather than just straight-up absurd.

When we all watched Fyre Festival play out:
“It was a disaster of war that Caesar himself could not have prevented.”
—All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 3, Scene 6

When Twitter changed its character limit from 140 to a whopping 280:
“This is too much.”
—Henry VIII, Act 5, Scene 3

When your relatives asked you where you stand on a polarizing issue that’s been in the news a lot:
“I am not bound to please thee with my answer.”
—The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

When there was a solar eclipse and it kind of felt like a metaphor for 2017:
“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.”
—King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2

When AIM left us forever:
“Farewell, and thanks.”
—Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2

When we all got really good at calling our senators:
“Full of vexation come I, with complaint.”
—A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1

Whenever things like The Emoji Movie and fidget spinners happened:
“Come, let us take a muster speedily:
Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.”
—Henry IV Part 1, Act 4, Scene 1

When there was that whole Best Picture fiasco at the Oscars:
“Ay me! what is this world!”
—Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4

Basically what it felt like anytime you got a CNN news alert:
“Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news!”
—Richard III, Act 4, Scene 1

Whenever the president tweeted anything:
“A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.”
—All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 3, Scene 6

When McDonald’s ran out of their limited-edition Szechuan sauce during a Rick and Morty promotional campaign and people rioted:
“Chaos is come again.”
—Othello, Act 3, Scene 3

When you’re hoping 2018 will be better but you don’t want to get your hopes up:
“Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”
—Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4