“Romeo and Juliet” is a tragedy play written by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595. It is one of the most famous and enduring works of literature in the world. The play tells the story of two young star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families.
The play’s enduring popularity lies in its timeless exploration of love, passion, and the human condition. It has been adapted into numerous films, plays, and other artistic works over the centuries, making it a significant part of the cultural heritage. The tragedy of the young lovers has touched the hearts of audiences worldwide, ensuring that “Romeo and Juliet” continues to be a staple in literature and theater.
Romeo and Juliet Quotes
Here are 85 famous quotes from Romeo and Juliet on love, passion, tragedy, death.
1. “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
2. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
3. “My only love, sprung from my only hate!”
4. “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
5. “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
6. “These violent delights have violent ends.”
7. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”
8. “See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!”
9. “A plague o’ both your houses!”
10. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”
11. “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”
12. “O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!”
13. “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
14. “Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, but love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”
15. “O, speak again, bright angel!”
16. “Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”
17. “Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.”
18. “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.”
19. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”
20. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
21. “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.”
22. “It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.”
23. “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.”
24. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”
25. “Love is a tender thing.”
26. “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
27. “I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes, and but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.”
28. “Two households, both alike in dignity.”
29. “O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, from off the battlements of yonder tower.”
30. “Give me my Romeo, and, when I shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.”
31. “Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night; give me my Romeo.”
32. “The earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she; she is the hopeful lady of my earth.”
33. “Oh, she knew well thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.”
34. “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, and, if we meet, we shall not ‘scape a brawl, for now these hot days is the mad blood stirring.”
35. “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after?”
36. “With love’s light wings did I o’er-perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out.”
37. “O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!”
38. “I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”
39. “Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords! Look thou but sweet, and I am proof against their enmity.”
40. “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love.”
41. “And when I am forgotten, as I shall be, and asleep in dull cold marble, where no mention of me must be heard of, say, I taught thee.”
42. “Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. How is’t, my soul? Let’s talk. It is not day.”
43. “The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness.”
44. “A greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents.”
45. “These woes shall serve as sweet discourses in our time to come.”
46. “See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!”
47. “Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.”
48. “I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this night’s revels and expire the term of a despised life, closed in my breast, by some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
49. “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.”
50. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale.”
51. “O, I am fortune’s fool!”
52. “Love moderately; long love doth so.”
53. “I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris.”
54. “Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first create!”
55. “And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow.”
56. “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.”
57. “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl! Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips; haply some poison yet doth hang on them to make me die with a restorative.”
58. “For my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this night’s revels and expire the term of a despised life, closed in my breast, by some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
59. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
60. “If love be rough with you, be rough with love.”
61. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
62. “I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo.”
63. “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
64. “More light and light; more dark and dark our woes.”
65. “Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. Then your love would also change.”
66. “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
67. “Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!”
68. “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, and vice sometimes by action dignified.”
69. “It is my lady; O, it is my love! O that she knew she were!”
70. “Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed. An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish.”
71. “O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
72. “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.”
73. “O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”
74. “Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, but love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”
75. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
76. “The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night, checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light, and flecked darkness like a drunkard reels from forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels.”
77. “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
78. “Tempt not a desperate man.”
79. “Heaven is here, where Juliet lives.”
80. “Death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”
81. “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.”
82. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”
83. “Love is a wonderful thing.”
84. “O, look! Methinks I see my cousin’s ghost seeking out Romeo that did spit his body upon a rapier’s point. Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink—I drink to thee.”
85. “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”
These quotes showcase the beauty and depth of Shakespeare’s language and the timeless themes of love, passion, and tragedy that continue to captivate audiences to this day.
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