English resources/Romeo and Juliet/Quotes
Romeo and Juliet quotes, in plain words
Every big quote from the book. Who says it, where, and what it means. Start with the twenty marked with a dot.
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Short. Easy to remember. Between them they cover every theme and every main character.
Two households, both alike in dignity
Chorus · Prologue · family · hate
Two families, both important, both as good as each other. And they hate each other.
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life
Chorus · Prologue · fate · death · love
The stars are against them. The play tells you the ending before it starts.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
Romeo · Act 1, Scene 5 · love · light and dark · youth
He sees Juliet and forgets Rosaline in one line. Love at first sight, and very fast.
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Juliet · Act 1, Scene 5 · love · hate · fate
Juliet finds out Romeo is a Montague. The one person she loves is from the one family she must hate.
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love · family
Not where are you. Why are you Romeo, a Montague? Why the one name I cannot love?
That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love · family
A name is just a word. Romeo would be the same person with any other name.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love
Her love has no bottom, like the sea. The more she gives, the more she has.
These violent delights have violent ends
Friar Lawrence · Act 2, Scene 6 · fate · love · death
Love this wild ends badly. The Friar says it and then marries them anyway.
A plague o' both your houses.
Mercutio · Act 3, Scene 1 · hate · death · family
Dying, Mercutio curses both families. The feud killed him and he was not in it.
O, I am fortune's fool!
Romeo · Act 3, Scene 1 · fate
Romeo has just killed Tybalt. He blames fate. He also did it.
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
Friar Lawrence · Act 2, Scene 3 · time · youth
The Friar tells Romeo to slow down. Nobody in the play listens to this.
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 2 · time · love · light and dark
Juliet tells the sun's horses to hurry so night will come and Romeo with it.
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 2 · love · hate
Romeo killed her cousin. For a moment she sees him as a snake with a pretty face.
Then I defy you, stars!
Romeo · Act 5, Scene 1 · fate · death
He hears Juliet is dead. He will fight fate itself. He buys poison.
Thus with a kiss I die.
Romeo · Act 5, Scene 3 · love · death
Romeo's last words. He drinks the poison beside Juliet, who is about to wake.
O happy dagger
Juliet · Act 5, Scene 3 · death · love
She wakes, finds him dead, and uses his dagger. Happy because it lets her follow him.
For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Prince · Act 5, Scene 3 · death · love
The last lines. The saddest story there is.
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn.
Romeo · Act 1, Scene 4 · love
Before he meets Juliet, Romeo thinks love hurts. He is talking about a girl who does not want him.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Juliet · Act 1, Scene 5 · death · love · fate
If she cannot marry him, she will die unmarried. It comes true in a way she does not mean.
Every quote, in order
All 44, in the order they happen.
Prologue
Two households, both alike in dignity
Chorus · Prologue · family · hate
Two families, both important, both as good as each other. And they hate each other.
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life
Chorus · Prologue · fate · death · love
The stars are against them. The play tells you the ending before it starts.
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
Chorus · Prologue · hate · family
Neighbours killing neighbours. Their hands are dirty with their own city's blood.
Act 1
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Abraham · Act 1, Scene 1 · hate · youth
A rude gesture starts a street fight. The hate is so old it runs on nothing.
I hate the word As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee
Tybalt · Act 1, Scene 1 · hate
Tybalt hates peace as much as he hates Montagues. He is the feud in one person.
Younger than she are happy mothers made.
Paris · Act 1, Scene 2 · youth · family
Paris wants to marry Juliet at thirteen. Girls younger are already mothers, he says.
This precious book of love, this unbound lover
Lady Capulet · Act 1, Scene 3 · love · family
Juliet's mother sells Paris to her like a beautiful book. Juliet has not even seen him.
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn.
Romeo · Act 1, Scene 4 · love
Before he meets Juliet, Romeo thinks love hurts. He is talking about a girl who does not want him.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
Romeo · Act 1, Scene 5 · love · light and dark · youth
He sees Juliet and forgets Rosaline in one line. Love at first sight, and very fast.
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
Romeo · Act 1, Scene 5 · light and dark · love
Juliet is brighter than the torches. Romeo talks about her as light all through the play.
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Juliet · Act 1, Scene 5 · love · hate · fate
Juliet finds out Romeo is a Montague. The one person she loves is from the one family she must hate.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Juliet · Act 1, Scene 5 · death · love · fate
If she cannot marry him, she will die unmarried. It comes true in a way she does not mean.
Act 2
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
Romeo · Act 2, Scene 2 · light and dark · love
Juliet at her window. To Romeo she is the sun rising.
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love · family
Not where are you. Why are you Romeo, a Montague? Why the one name I cannot love?
That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love · family
A name is just a word. Romeo would be the same person with any other name.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love
Her love has no bottom, like the sea. The more she gives, the more she has.
It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love · time · youth
Even Juliet knows this is too fast. She says so. Then she goes ahead.
Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow
Juliet · Act 2, Scene 2 · love
Saying goodbye hurts and feels good at the same time.
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
Friar Lawrence · Act 2, Scene 3 · time · youth
The Friar tells Romeo to slow down. Nobody in the play listens to this.
These violent delights have violent ends
Friar Lawrence · Act 2, Scene 6 · fate · love · death
Love this wild ends badly. The Friar says it and then marries them anyway.
Act 3
A plague o' both your houses.
Mercutio · Act 3, Scene 1 · hate · death · family
Dying, Mercutio curses both families. The feud killed him and he was not in it.
Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.
Mercutio · Act 3, Scene 1 · death
Grave means serious, and a grave. He jokes as he dies.
O, I am fortune's fool!
Romeo · Act 3, Scene 1 · fate
Romeo has just killed Tybalt. He blames fate. He also did it.
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 2 · time · love · light and dark
Juliet tells the sun's horses to hurry so night will come and Romeo with it.
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 2 · love · hate
Romeo killed her cousin. For a moment she sees him as a snake with a pretty face.
Romeo is banished
Nurse · Act 3, Scene 2 · fate · family
The Nurse brings the news. To Juliet it is worse than ten thousand dead Tybalts.
Come gentle night, come loving black-brow'd night, Give me my Romeo
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 2 · love · light and dark · death
Juliet wants the dark. Night is where love happens in this play, and where death does.
There is no world without Verona walls
Romeo · Act 3, Scene 3 · youth · love
Banished from Verona is banished from life, Romeo says. The Friar tells him to stop being a child.
Art thou a man?
Friar Lawrence · Act 3, Scene 3 · youth
Romeo is on the floor crying. The Friar asks him to act like a man.
It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale
Romeo · Act 3, Scene 5 · time · light and dark · love
Morning has come. Romeo must leave or die. Juliet wants it to still be night.
O thinkest thou we shall ever meet again?
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 5 · fate · love
Their last time together alive. She asks the question the play has already answered.
Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow-face!
Capulet · Act 3, Scene 5 · family · youth
Juliet says no to marrying Paris. Her father screams insults at her.
I think it best you married with the County.
Nurse · Act 3, Scene 5 · family · love
The Nurse tells Juliet to forget Romeo and marry Paris. Juliet never trusts her again.
If all else fail, myself have power to die.
Juliet · Act 3, Scene 5 · death · fate
Alone now, Juliet says she can always kill herself. It is her plan of last resort.
Act 4
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of yonder tower
Juliet · Act 4, Scene 1 · love · death · youth
She would jump off a tower before marrying Paris. The Friar offers her a potion instead.
Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here's drink! I drink to thee.
Juliet · Act 4, Scene 3 · love · death
She drinks the potion alone, with his name.
Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
Capulet · Act 4, Scene 5 · death · family
Her father finds her 'dead'. Frost on a flower. Too early.
Act 5
Then I defy you, stars!
Romeo · Act 5, Scene 1 · fate · death
He hears Juliet is dead. He will fight fate itself. He buys poison.
Thus with a kiss I die.
Romeo · Act 5, Scene 3 · love · death
Romeo's last words. He drinks the poison beside Juliet, who is about to wake.
O happy dagger
Juliet · Act 5, Scene 3 · death · love
She wakes, finds him dead, and uses his dagger. Happy because it lets her follow him.
All are punish'd.
Prince · Act 5, Scene 3 · hate · family · fate
The Prince blames everyone. Both families lost children. So did he.
For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Prince · Act 5, Scene 3 · death · love
The last lines. The saddest story there is.
O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick.
Romeo · Act 5, Scene 3 · death
The poison works fast. He has time for one more line.
O brother Montague, give me thy hand
Capulet · Act 5, Scene 3 · family · hate · death
The fathers shake hands over their dead children. The feud ends too late.
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