Shakespeare Love Quotes: 31 Of The Greatest Ever Quotes
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“The bard” certainly had a way with words, what with having changed the course of the English language forever and all, but it was when he spoke of and about love that he was arguably at his brilliant best. Here are 31 Shakespeare love quotes by that genius of yore, the greatest ever writer. Let the bard soothe your quest for answers in that ever foggy but highly alluring sphere of love:
1.
Also very true. How many times has this been proved over and over again? Mean people, people who say hurtful things, “unsociable” people, lonely people, people on the fringes… what drastically changes them? Being loved. Accepted. It is the ultimate feeling.
2.
This is one of those that you tend to hear over and over again, only no one seems to know whom to credit it to. Well, it’s Shakespeare love quotes, that first gave us that little glimmer of hope and respite, saying that it wasn’t just us who were plagued with rotten luck or wicked people in our lives, and that love was tumultuous was in fact true.
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3.
Shakespeare first left us with this simplest of mind-benders when he penned Romeo and Juliet in 1597. How many years ago is that? The words ring true just as much today as they did then, but it is William Shakespeare we’re talking about after all. Advice to live by.
4.
Another quote, and one of many Shakespeare love quotes, from the classic Romeo and Juliet that doesn’t really get the recognition that it should. But perhaps those looking for an explanation, any explanation, of the feeling of just knowing when you see the one can relate, for they are sure to have paid attention.
5.
6.
It’s pretty straightforward, but only when you’ve actually stopped to think about it for a second. “If people show you who they are, believe them” is another quote that we’re fond of, but we’re not going to attribute that to Shakespeare just yet.
7.
The bard knows. Remember, when Shakespeare speaks of love, he speaks of “true” love and not of the flaky and lascivious desires that we are all prone to now and again. When you’re in love, truly in love, it’s going to make very little sense on very many fronts.
8.
Was it Shakespeare who first compared the many faces of the moon to the fickle and changing nature of those who aren’t true in their relationships? Who knows, but our money is that he probably was.
9.
Many could refrain, as it turned out actually, but the bard was a poet not interested in anything but what should be, and that’s exactly what he’s talking about here. And he’s right. He generally always is.
10.
This wasn’t quite one of those Shakespeare love quotes asking us all to explore our latent fetishes, but a call to take things on the chin and then give back some. Some would call it the classic British mentality, others would call it an important life lesson to not be mopey and self-pitying. Either way, this is one of those lessons that is best taken to heart.
11.
The context behind this delightful little utterance isn’t quite as chirpy as you would have thought, but we really wouldn’t want that for you. We reckon you’d be better off just reading Othello, and the next time you read this quote, you’ll know exactly why the usage was darker than is implied by the quote itself.
12.
Isn’t it just? Exasperated ones, comfortable ones and everything in between. The bard just tells us in his own little way that love in itself isn’t good or bad, it just is.
13.
When you think about it, it is quite strange really. “You’re the most important thing in my life” isn’t a statement to be taken lightly, no matter who or what you’re talking to. But often, when you say it, you mean exactly that. To tell the other person that they’re the most important thing in your life is an amazing statement.
14.
What is to say about this one except that it’s only ever the bard who could come up with it.
15.
In case you were wondering, Shakespeare is often called “the bard” since he’s considered the greatest poet that ever lived, with the word “bard” meaning poet. The bard here speaks of how love is blind, but goes on to say so much more, as only he ever can.
16.
There’s plenty of research to back Shakespeare’s hunch here, but we’ll probably leave out the details for another time. The fact is that love and music go hand in hand, whether you’re looking at the Flamenco tradition, or Sufi mysticism.
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17.
Romeo here is just saying something that everyone in love, especially love as deep and tumultuous as his, will feel. That sometimes love can be this huge weight on your shoulders, that sometimes having someone expectantly looking towards you isn’t quite the motivator that you needed, etc. and so forth. Or just that sometimes, many a time in fact, love is hard; Hear hear for Shakespeare love quotes, and that old well of wisdom.
18.
Juliet now, observing that curiously enough, the one that she loves the most (Romeo) comes from a family that are arch enemies of her own family (her only hate). Would this then, in this context, not describe a lot of cases in India as well, where divisions in society are rife, but love cannot recognize them.
19.
Being rational and being in love aren’t two things that you’d say are poles apart, but it’s easy to see how they can be at loggerheads at times. Reason, logic and all of that stuff takes a back seat as matters of the heart take precedence, and even if it is a disease, it’s the only one that everyone everywhere is trying to catch.
20.
Possibly the most famous of Shakespeare love quotes, of all time – “All’s fair in love and war”. Right? Well, yeah, maybe not for the person who’s not quite involved in your little story of romance, but gets caught up in it. Underhanded tactics, rabbit in a hat tricks, you name it: we’ll do anything, and justify it in the name of love.
21.
We’ve all had that “friend” who has one beer too many and then rattles off about how he’s going to do this and do that. Well some people are like that without the beer, or wine, as the bard puts it. And they don’t just make promises that are hard to keep, they’re just liars. Beware.
22.
Pretty much what everyone else has been saying, but Shakespeare puts it across rather well here, doesn’t he? If your love wilts at the first sight of a hurdle, it wasn’t love at all! When you’re in love, you do anything you have to make it, and then some more. Not being together isn’t an option.
23.
The genius of Shakespeare. How much more powerful would Shakespeare love quotes like this one be when compared to something like “I loved you, I can’t believe you’ve done this to me”? The plain truth, put across in a plainly brilliant way.
24.
When a boy (Romeo) goes towards his love (Juliet), he does so with a glee reminiscent of a schoolboy fleeing from his books, but when it comes time for him to leave her side, he does so with the air of a schoolboy trudging towards school on a Monday morning.
25.
Sometimes it just happens like that. Yes, it seems to happen in plays and dramas and movies a lot more, but sometimes, when you’re just walking down the street in an unfamiliar city, adjusting to how different life seems to be, wondering whether you made the right call with the 1000+ kilometre switch… and then you see a glimpse of what can only be described as hope.
26.
Look, Romeo and Juliet might be painted as the greatest love story ever, but it isn’t, it’s much more than that. And Romeo is a fickle man, driven by an emotion that would much sooner identify under longing rather than love. It would be foolish to say this is a condition that plagues only Romeo, and the bard makes that quite clear.
27.
Yes, Shakespeare invented this phrase. This common phrase that routinely gets passed around out of context. This utterance that is taken as plain truth and stuff of folk legend. An old wives’ tale that didn’t involve childbirth or a cure. But no, William Shakespeare coined this too.
28.
Ties in pretty well to Shakespeare’s observation that sometimes being blinded by love means not assessing things straight. Love, in its many forms, may be one of the greatest things to aspire to, but it is also foolish.
29.
These three words have come to mean so much since the time that the bard penned them that they pretty much take on a whole host of different meanings. And while for literary theory finding out exactly the context that Shakespeare used them in is warranted, we’re just going to go with our favourite meaning – love transcends borders or any and all sort.
30.
“I have a lot of love to give” is the Hollywood equivalent of this classic quote by William Shakespeare. When it comes to love that is reciprocated, the words ‘too much’ and ‘enough’ don’t seem to apply.
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31.
Beauty is sometimes only skin deep, but more than that, I like to think that all Shakespeare is saying here is that don’t let how someone looks affect your judgment of what they do.
And there we have it, 31 of our favourite William Shakespeare love quotes that deal with love, that all conquering emotion, in some capacity or the other. The thing with Shakespeare is that you could have 31 of your own favourites, and all of them could be completely different from our selection! So if you’ve a favourite quote by the bard, and it’s the most beautiful of them all, tell us because we’d like to know as well.
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