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Who really said it

Bubble bubble, toil and trouble

Not quite Shakespeare — a misquote of Macbeth William Shakespeare 1564–1616 · English playwright & poet
Disputed Free to reuse

The thought is Shakespeare’s, but the wording is wrong. In ‘Macbeth’ (Act 4, Scene 1) the three witches chant “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” “Bubble bubble” appears nowhere in the play — it is a popular misremembering that folds the closing word “bubble” back into the opening “double, double.”

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Bubble bubble, toil and trouble” Misquote of Shakespeare. The real line is "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" — Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1.

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In context

Evoking the world of William Shakespeare — English playwright & poet. Theme: "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The real line, in Shakespeare’s cauldron scene

Work
Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1 (the witches’ cauldron)
Author
William Shakespeare
Written
c. 1606; first printed in the First Folio, 1623
Speaker
ALL (the three witches, as a refrain)

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

The refrain recurs three times as the witches feed the cauldron. The familiar “Bubble bubble” version simply is not in the text.

Read Macbeth 4.1 at the Folger Shakespeare Library

How we verified this

Public domain

The source text, Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ was written c. 1606 and first printed in the 1623 First Folio — centuries into the public domain. Note that the “Bubble bubble” wording is a modern corruption with no textual source; only the genuine “Double, double” line is Shakespeare’s.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

How “Double” became “Bubble”

This is not a case of the wrong author — the line really is Shakespeare’s. It is the wording that has drifted. The genuine refrain is “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble,” and the popular “Bubble bubble, toil and trouble” collapses those two lines into one.

A common misremembering misquote

Ear and image conspire: the witches are literally bent over a bubbling cauldron, so “bubble” feels right — and it echoes the real closing word. But Shakespeare wrote “Double, double,” a deliberate doubling that mirrors the play’s theme of redoubling evil, per the MIT text of 4.1.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth (correct) correct credit

The refrain belongs to the three witches in Act 4, Scene 1 — so the attribution to Shakespeare is right even when the quotation is not.

Shakespeare’s witches chant “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble” — there is no “Bubble bubble” in the play.

Context

Why the line sticks

The witches’ incantation is one of Shakespeare’s most incantatory passages — short, trochaic, and chanted in unison over a boiling cauldron. Its very catchiness is what makes it so easy to garble: the rhythm survives even when the words slip.

“Double, double” is doing real work. The repetition foreshadows the doubling of Macbeth’s crimes and the witches’ equivocation — their habit of saying things that mean two things at once. Flatten it to “Bubble bubble” and you keep the spooky music but lose the meaning.

There is no “Bubble bubble” — only “Double, double.”

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Creativity Doubt

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Macbeth 4.1 — full sceneshakespeare.mit.edu

The complete cauldron scene with the genuine refrain in context.
Macbeth 4.1 — Folger editionfolger.edu

Scholarly Folger Shakespeare Library text confirming the exact wording.
Misquoted Shakespeare: Bubble, Bubblewordynerdbird.com

A short piece cataloguing the “Bubble bubble” error and correcting it.
Three Misremembered Quotes from Macbethspellzone.com

Lists the common misrememberings of Macbeth, including this refrain.
Double, double toil and trouble — meaningnosweatshakespeare.com

Background on the witches’ chant and what the correct line means.

The real author of the line

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

1564–1616 · English playwright & poet

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His tragedy Macbeth, written around 1606, opens with three witches whose cauldron chant — “Double, double toil and trouble” — is among the most quoted (and misquoted) passages in all of English drama.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

William Shakespeare, “Macbeth,” Act 4, Scene 1 (written c. 1606; first printed in the First Folio, 1623). Text: Folger Shakespeare Library and the MIT online Shakespeare.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Bubble bubble, toil and trouble’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble/

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