Romeo and Juliet’s love is one of the most beloved, and tragic, in all of classic literature. Romeo and Juliet is among the most popular plays ever written in the English language. Written by the master playwright William Shakespeare, it tells the story of two young lovers whose families have a long history of violence against each other. Like most plays from Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is laden with many great dialogues.
Hailed as one of the popular tragedies in classical literature, “Romeo and Juliet” is replete with memorable and timeless quotes that defy the confines of time and space. Due to its immense popularity, some of the riveting dialogues have been repeatedly referenced in various mainstream movies.
Romeo begins the play in love with Rosaline, but his language in these opening scenes shows us that his first love is less mature than the love he will develop for Juliet. This couplet combines two ideas that were already clichés in Shakespeare’s day: “love is blind” and “love will find a way.” The clichéd expressions and obvious rhymes which Romeo uses to express his love for Rosaline would have been ridiculous to a contemporary audience, and Benvolio and Mercutio repeatedly make fun of them.
Here are 10 of the most famous quotations from Romeo and Juliet Quotes by William Shakespeare.
These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately: long love doth so
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
This love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;
Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
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.
My only love sprung from my only hate,
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love is it to me
That I must love a loathed enemy.
Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly.
then your love would also change.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have;
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.
But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
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.
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow
Don't waste your love on somebody, who doesn't value it.
