Romeo and Juliet has given English its most famous lines about love, and some of the most misunderstood: “wherefore” does not mean “where,” and the most famous line about a rose does not say what most people think it says.
This guide collects the most famous lines in the play, from the Prologue to the Prince’s final words, with who says each one, where it comes in the story, and what it means. For the play as a whole, see our full guide to Romeo and Juliet.
At a Glance
Here are the essentials about the quotations of Romeo and Juliet for quick reference.
Prologue and Act 1 Quotes
A feud in the streets, a lovesick young man, and a meeting at a party.
“Two Households, Both Alike in Dignity”
The Chorus, opening the Prologue: “Two households, both alike in dignity / (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny.” Two families of equal rank, an old quarrel, and fresh violence: the whole situation in three lines. The Prologue is a complete sonnet.
“A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers Take Their Life”
The Chorus, in the same sonnet. “Star-crossed” means thwarted by the stars, doomed by fate. The audience learns the ending before the story begins: the lovers will die, and only their deaths will end the feud. Our guide to the themes of Romeo and Juliet follows the idea of fate through the play.
“Do You Bite Your Thumb at Us, Sir?”
Abram, a Montague servant, Act 1, scene 1, after a Capulet servant makes a rude gesture at him. The comic exchange that follows, full of cautious evasions, turns into the street brawl that opens the play. The feud reaches even the servants.
“What, Drawn and Talk of Peace? I Hate the Word”
Tybalt, in the same brawl, answering Benvolio’s plea to keep the peace: “I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.” In his first speech, Tybalt shows that he lives for the feud.
“O Brawling Love, O Loving Hate”
Romeo, Act 1, scene 1, lovesick over Rosaline: “O brawling love, O loving hate, / O anything of nothing first create!” He piles up paradoxes, “cold fire, sick health,” in the fashionable style of a lovesick poet. It shows how much of his love for Rosaline is a pose, and it sets up the tangle of love and hate to come.
“Younger Than She Are Happy Mothers Made”
Paris, Act 1, scene 2, after Capulet says Juliet is too young to marry. Capulet replies, “And too soon marred are those so early made.” At this point, Juliet’s father is the one urging patience.
“O, Then I See Queen Mab Hath Been with You”
Mercutio, Act 1, scene 4, mocking Romeo’s belief in dreams. His Queen Mab speech describes a tiny fairy who drives through sleepers’ brains and gives each the dream they deserve. It spins into something darker until Romeo stops him, and Mercutio admits that dreams “are the children of an idle brain.”
“O, She Doth Teach the Torches to Burn Bright!”
Romeo, Act 1, scene 5, seeing Juliet for the first time. She outshines the torches, and “hangs upon the cheek of night” like a jewel. Rosaline is forgotten in an instant: “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
“Palm to Palm Is Holy Palmers’ Kiss”
Juliet, in the lovers’ first conversation. Romeo compares himself to a pilgrim and her hand to a shrine; she answers that pilgrims touch hands, and that “palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Their exchange forms a complete sonnet, shared between them, ending in a kiss. Afterward she teases him: “You kiss by th’ book.”
“My Only Love Sprung from My Only Hate!”
Juliet, learning from the Nurse that Romeo is a Montague: “My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!” In a single moment, her first love and her family’s enemy turn out to be the same person.
Act 2 Quotes
The balcony, the Friar, and the wedding.
“He Jests at Scars That Never Felt a Wound”
Romeo, opening Act 2, scene 2, after overhearing Mercutio’s jokes about love. It is easy to mock pain you have never felt. Then he looks up and sees Juliet.
“But Soft, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?”
Romeo, in the Capulet orchard, as Juliet appears above: “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.” In the dark garden, she is his source of light, the play’s central image of their love.
“O Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore Art Thou Romeo?”
Juliet, not knowing Romeo is listening. “Wherefore” means “why,” not “where.” She is not looking for him; she is asking why he has to be a Romeo, a Montague. She goes on: “Deny thy father and refuse thy name, / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
“What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose”
Juliet, in the same speech: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet.” A name is just a label; Romeo would be as dear by any other. The 1599 printing reads “word”; the 1597 printing has “name,” the version most people know.
“O, Swear Not by the Moon, Th’ Inconstant Moon”
Juliet, stopping Romeo as he begins a vow: the moon changes every month, “Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” If he must swear, he should swear by himself, “the god of my idolatry.”
“Too Rash, Too Unadvised, Too Sudden”
Juliet, worrying about the speed of their vows: “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, / Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be / Ere one can say ‘It lightens.’” She sees the danger clearly, and goes ahead anyway.
“My Bounty Is as Boundless as the Sea”
Juliet, later in the balcony scene: “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.” It is the play’s fullest statement of what their love means.
“Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow”
Juliet, ending the balcony scene: “Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say ‘Good night’ till it be morrow.” Saying goodbye hurts, but the sorrow is sweet because it shows how much they love each other.
“Wisely and Slow. They Stumble That Run Fast.”
Friar Lawrence, Act 2, scene 3, when Romeo demands to be married that very day. It is the play’s best advice, and nobody follows it, including the Friar, who marries them that afternoon.
“The Wild-Goose Chase”
Mercutio, Act 2, scene 4, losing a battle of wits to Romeo: “Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done.” In Shakespeare’s time, a wild-goose chase was a kind of horse race in which riders had to follow the leader’s course; Mercutio means he cannot keep up with Romeo’s jokes.
“These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends”
Friar Lawrence, Act 2, scene 6, just before the wedding: “These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, / Which, as they kiss, consume.” Passions this intense burn out as fast as they flare. “Therefore love moderately,” he says.
Act 3 Quotes
Two deaths, a banishment, and one night together.
“A Plague O’ Both Your Houses!”
Mercutio, Act 3, scene 1, fatally wounded by Tybalt. He curses both families for the feud that has killed him, a feud that was never his. It is now used for any quarrel where both sides share the blame.
“Ask for Me Tomorrow, and You Shall Find Me a Grave Man”
Mercutio, in the same scene. Even dying, he makes a pun: “grave” means both serious and dead. His wound, he says, is “not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but ’tis enough.”
“O, I Am Fortune’s Fool!”
Romeo, having just killed Tybalt. He sees himself as a plaything of fortune, made to kill his new wife’s cousin on his wedding day.
“Mercy but Murders, Pardoning Those That Kill”
The Prince, ending Act 3, scene 1, after banishing Romeo instead of executing him. Showing mercy to killers, he warns, only leads to more killing.
“Gallop Apace, You Fiery-Footed Steeds”
Juliet, Act 3, scene 2, longing for night and for Romeo. She urges the horses of the sun to race toward sunset, not yet knowing that Romeo has killed Tybalt.
“Take Him and Cut Him Out in Little Stars”
Juliet, in the same speech: “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.” Her image of Romeo as stars is both a love poem and, unknowingly, an elegy.
“Beautiful Tyrant, Fiend Angelical!”
Juliet, learning that Romeo has killed Tybalt. Torn between husband and cousin, she piles up contradictions, a “Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!” Then she chooses: “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”
“It Was the Nightingale, and Not the Lark”
Juliet, Act 3, scene 5, at dawn after their wedding night: “Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. / It was the nightingale, and not the lark.” The nightingale sings at night; the lark at dawn. She insists it is still night so Romeo can stay; he knows it is morning: “I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”
“More Light and Light, More Dark and Dark Our Woes!”
Romeo, in the same scene, as dawn breaks. For other lovers, daylight is good; for them, each brightening moment brings separation closer.
“Hang Thee, Young Baggage, Disobedient Wretch!”
Capulet, later in the same scene, when Juliet refuses to marry Paris: “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! / I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday, / Or never after look me in the face.” The patient father of Act 1 is gone.
Act 4 and Act 5 Quotes
The potion, the tomb, and the end of the feud.
“Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s Drink. I Drink to Thee.”
Juliet, Act 4, scene 3, alone, drinking the Friar’s potion after facing her terror of waking among the dead. Her last words before the drug takes hold are a toast to her husband.
“Thus with a Kiss I Die”
Romeo’s last words, Act 5, scene 3, in the tomb: “O true apothecary, / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” The poison works fast, and he dies kissing the wife he believes is dead.
“O Happy Dagger, This Is Thy Sheath”
Juliet’s last words, waking to find Romeo dead: “O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.” She takes his dagger as the only way to follow him. “Happy” here means fortunate, because it is close at hand.
“All Are Punished”
The Prince, over the bodies. The feud has cost both families their children, and cost him his kinsman Mercutio. No one is left untouched.
“For Never Was a Story of More Woe”
The Prince, speaking the play’s final lines: “For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” The play ends as it began, with a summary of the lovers’ fate, in a rhyming couplet like the one that closes a sonnet.
A Closer Reading: A Tragedy Framed by Sonnets
Many of the play’s most famous lines are sonnets or parts of sonnets, and the form tells us something about love and fate in the play.
The play opens with a sonnet, the Prologue, and in it fate speaks: the lovers are “star-crossed,” their love “death-marked.” The Chorus that opens Act 2 is another sonnet. In between, when Romeo and Juliet speak for the first time, their words fall into a sonnet too, fourteen lines shared between them, with “palm to palm” and a kiss at the end. The sonnet was the great form of love poetry in Shakespeare’s day, and our guide to the Shakespearean sonnet explains how it works.
So the same form carries both voices: the lovers’ own and the voice of the fate that will destroy them. The lovers make a sonnet together without trying, as if love naturally speaks in it; the Prologue uses it to tell us how they will die. At the end, the Prince’s closing lines rhyme “woe” with “Romeo” in a final couplet, like the last two lines of a sonnet. The story is framed, start and finish, in the language of love poetry, but it is fate that writes the frame.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about the quotations of Romeo and Juliet, answered briefly.
What Is the Most Famous Quote from Romeo and Juliet?
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” from the balcony scene in Act 2, scene 2, along with “What’s in a name?” and “Parting is such sweet sorrow” from the same scene.
What Does “Wherefore Art Thou Romeo” Mean?
“Why are you Romeo?” “Wherefore” means “why.” Juliet is not asking where Romeo is; she is wishing he were not a Montague.
Is It “By Any Other Name” or “By Any Other Word”?
Both appear in early printings. The 1599 printing, which many modern editions follow, reads “By any other word would smell as sweet.” The 1597 printing reads “name,” which is the version most people quote.
Who Says “A Plague O’ Both Your Houses”?
Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, as he dies from a wound given by Tybalt in Act 3, scene 1. He curses both the Montagues and the Capulets for the feud that killed him.
What Are the Last Lines of Romeo and Juliet?
“For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo,” spoken by the Prince over the bodies of the lovers.
Related Reading
Three pages that take the language of Romeo and Juliet further.