“生存还是毁灭”这句台词出自莎士比亚的经典悲剧《哈姆雷特》中的第三幕第一场，原文（朱生豪译本）如下：
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 heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. 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.
这段台词的译文为：
生存还是毁灭，这是个问题： 默然忍受命运暴虐的毒箭， 或是挺身反抗人世无涯的苦难， 通过斗争把它们扫清，这两种行为，哪一种更高贵？ 死了，睡去了，结束了，也许一切都将随着死亡而结束， 这正是人们所祈求的解脱； 死了，睡去了； 睡着了也许还会做梦，唉，这就是麻烦的所在： 因此，这使人踌躇， 使我们宁愿忍受目前的折磨，也不敢向我们所不知道的痛苦飞去； 这样，重重的顾虑使我们全变成了懦夫， 决心的赤热的光彩，被审慎的思维盖上了一层灰色， 伟大的事业在这一种考虑之下，也会逆流而退，失去了行动的意义。
这段独白深刻展现了哈姆雷特内心的挣扎与痛苦，他对生命意义的思考和对死亡的恐惧交织在一起，构成了一个复杂的心理矛盾。
