此段的全文如下：
HAMLET
To be, or not to be: that is the question,
Whether'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die,to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
編輯本段譯文
生存還是毀滅，這是壹個值得思考的問題；驀然承受命運暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗人世無涯的苦難，這兩種行為，哪壹種更加高尚？死了，睡了，什麽都完了；要是在睡眠中，我們心靈的創痛和身體不能避及的打擊都可以消失，那不正是我們求之不得的結局麽！死了，睡了，睡著了也許還會有夢，這就是阻礙。因為我們擺脫了這具腐朽的皮囊後，我們將會顧慮在死後的睡眠裏，將會有什麽樣的夢境。人們甘心困於患難，就是因為這個緣故。誰願意忍受人世的鞭撻和譏嘲、壓迫者的淩辱、傲慢者的冷眼、承受輕蔑愛情的慘痛、法律的遷延、官吏的橫暴和費勁辛勤所換來的小人的鄙視？要是只要用壹把小刀就可以了結自己的壹生，誰願意背負著這樣的重擔在煩勞生命的壓迫下呻吟流汗？是因為懼怕死後的未知，是懼怕那從不有旅人回來的神秘國度（天堂），是未知迷惑了我們的意誌，使我們寧願忍受目前的折磨，也不敢向我們所不知道的地方飛去！這使我們變成了懦夫，熾熱光彩的決心被審慎的思維蓋上了壹層灰色，偉大的事業在這種顧慮之下，也逆流而退，失去了行動的意義。
----《哈姆雷特》（英-莎士比亞）中的經典獨白