Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Play ·87 of 348
"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
They never said that.
What people say
"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
What was actually said
"…it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing." Macbeth — Macbeth (1606) V.v
Why it stuck
The isolated phrase is a critic's verdict. In Shakespeare it's Macbeth despairing about life itself. The missing "told by an idiot" changes it from dismissive to cosmic.
Faulkner used the middle three words as the title of The Sound and the Fury (1929), preserving the weight of the original.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.