Here are the 53 best handpicked quotes from “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare:
From quotes by Juliet herself to quotes by Romeo to quotes by Lady Capulet.
So if you want the best quotes from “Romeo and Juliet” sorted by figure, then you’re in the right place.
Let’s jump right in!
12 Quotes by Juliet
#1
“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.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
I chose this as my favorite quote because, while no love story is the same, Juliet’s expression of love for Romeo through this line gives us a taste of their love’s depth.
This quote reminds me that I may never know what a love like Romeo and Juliet feels like—a love to cross oceans or sacrifice a life for.
Still, I hope that when true love visits, we all have the boundless courage to embrace the infinite possibilities it presents to us.
#2
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#3
“My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#4
“O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#5
“This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when we next meet.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#6
“You kiss by the book.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#7
“Give me my Romeo, and, when he 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.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#8
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#9
“What must be shall be.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#10
“‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy … O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#11
“My only love sprung from my only hate, too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me that I must love my enemy.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
#12
“O happy dagger, this is my sheath; there rust, and let me die.”
— Juliet, Romeo and Juliet
22 Quotes by Romeo
#13
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#14
“One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#15
“Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#16
“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#17
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#18
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#19
“With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do, that dares love attempt.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#20
“O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#21
“I am no pilot. Yet, wert thou as far as that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#22
“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers’ tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#23
“Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, but love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#24
“Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#25
“Call me but love, and I’ll be newly baptized.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#26
“Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#27
“O, I am Fortune’s fool!”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#28
“He that is strucken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#29
“Tempt not a desperate man.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#30
“The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#31
“I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#32
“Thus with a kiss I die.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#33
“Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
#34
“I defy you, stars!”
— Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
4 Quotes by Mercutio
#35
“You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings, and soar with them above a common bound.”
— Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet
#36
“If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.”
— Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet
#37
“If love be rough with you, be rough with love.”
— Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet
#38
“A plague on both your houses!”
— Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet
5 Quotes by Friar Lawrence
#39
“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”
— Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet
#40
“Women may fall when there’s no strength in men.”
— Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet
#41
“Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, and vice sometime by action dignified.”
— Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet
#42
“Care keeps his watch in every old man’s eye, and, where care lodges, sleep will never lie.”
— Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet
#43
“These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder.”
— Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet
1 Quote by Lady Montague
#44
“Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.”
— Lady Montague, Romeo and Juliet
2 Quotes by Capulet
#45
“Ready to go, but never to return.”
— Capulet, Romeo and Juliet
#46
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”
— Capulet, Romeo and Juliet
2 Quotes by Tybalt
#47
“What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.”
— Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet
#48
“Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell and all Montagues.”
— Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet
2 Quotes by Paris
#49
“These times of woe afford no time to woo.”
— Paris, Romeo and Juliet
#50
“Can vengeance be pursued further than death?”
— Paris, Romeo and Juliet
1 Quote by The Prince of Verona
#51
“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
— Prince of Verona, Romeo and Juliet
1 Quote by Lady Capulet
#52
“Some grief shows much of love, but much of grief shows still some want of wit.”
— Lady Capulet, Romeo and Juliet
1 Quote by No Specific Figure
#53
“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.”
— Romeo and Juliet