William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 - April 23, 1616) was a human who lived on Earth during the 16th and 17th centuries - in what would later be called the Elizabethan era. A native of England, Shakespeare was a poet and playwright. Over the centuries he was considered one of the greatest writers in human history, having written numerous poems, 38 plays, and 154 sonnets.

Not only were the various works of Shakespeare popular among humans, but as humans joined the interstellar community Shakespeare's works became popular among other races as well. Many of the works of Shakespeare were translated into alien languages. The Klingons were one of the races that did so. Thus Shakespeare became particuarly popular amongst Klingons. In 2293, Gorkon told the senior staff of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) that a person did not experience Shakespeare until it was heard in the original Klingon. (TOS movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

In January 2155, the mirror-Phlox reviewed logs from our Universe's USS Defiant (NCC-1764) and noted that both Shakespeare and mirror-Shakespeare wrote "grim" plays. (")

When Spock was recovering from his return from the dead in 2285, McCoy quoted Shakespeare by saying "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.". Spock not only correctly identified it as coming from Hamlet but even specified that the quote was from Act 1, Scene 4 of the play. 

During the Battle of the Omarion Nebula in 2371, Elim Garak quoted from Julius Caesar to his father, Enabran Tain. 

Jean-Luc Picard kept a volume of Shakespeare's works in his ready room aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E). When Will Riker asked Picard's advice in writing his wedding vows, Picard answered, "you can never go wrong with Shakespeare." (SS TNG)