Most Famous William Shakespeare Love Quotes
We have a romantic soul here at NoSweatShakespeare and are pleased to share our favourite William Shakespeare love quotes with you.
The 55 Shakespeare love quotes below are taken from his plays only – if we’d looked into Shakespeare’s sonnets or poems we could easily have doubled the list of Shakespeare quotes about love (and may yet do just that!).
So, from the author who famously wrote ‘never doubt that I love’, here are the all-time top love quotes from William Shakespeare:
1. ‘If music be the food of love, play on’
(Twelfth Night – Act 1, Scene 1)
2. ‘There’s beggary in love that can be reckoned’
(Antony & Cleopatra – Act 1, Scene 1)
3. ‘Speak low if you speak love’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 2, Scene 1)
4. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 2)
5. ‘Love goes by haps; Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 3, Scene 2)
6. ‘The stroke of death is as a lovers pinch, Which hurts and is desired’
(Antony & Cleopatra – Act 5, Scene 5)
7. ‘She’s beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won’
(Henry VI Part 1 – Act 5, Scene 2)
8. ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 1)
9. ‘Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, Did my heart fly at your service’
(The Tempest – Act 3, Scene 1)
10. ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?’
(As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 5)
11. ‘Love is a smoke and is made with the fume of sighs’
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 1, Scene 1)
12. ‘I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty’
(King Lear – Act 1, secene 1)
13. ‘Love is like a child, That longs for everything it can come by’
(The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act 3, Scene 1)
14. ‘The sight of lovers feedeth those in love’
(As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 4)
15. ‘What is light, if Sylvia be not seen? What is joy if Sylvia be not by?’
(The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act 3, Scene 1)
16. ‘Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves commit’
(The Merchant of Venice – Act 2, Scene 6)
17. ‘Love sought is good, but given unsought is better’
(Twelfth night – Act 3, Scene 1)
18. ‘Cupid is a knavish lad, thus to make females mad’
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 3, Scene 3)
19. ‘Come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy, That one short minute gives me in her sight’
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 2, Scene 6)
20. ‘Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move his aides, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love’
(Hamlet – Act 2, Scene 2)
21. ‘I would not wish any companion in the world but you’
(The Tempest – Act 3, Scene 1)
22. ‘I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine’
(As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 5)
23. ‘Her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love’
(Anotony & Cleopatra – Act 3, Scene 5)
24. ‘Lovers can do their amorous rites by their own beauties’
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 3, Scene 2)
25. ‘Love hath made thee a tame snake’
(As You Like It – Act 4, Scene 3)
26. ‘She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them’
(Othello – Act 1, Scene 3)
27. ‘Oh, how this spring of love resembleth, The uncertain glory of an April day, Which now shows all beauty of the Sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away’
(The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act 1, Scene 3)
28. ‘I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 2, Scene 3)
29. ‘Mistress, you know yourself, down on your knees, And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love’
(As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 5)
30. ‘In thy youth wast as true a lover, As ever sighed upon a midnight pillow’
(As You Like It – Act 2, Scene 4)
31. ‘A heart to love, and in that heart, Courage, to make’s love known’
(Macbeth – Act 2, Scene 3)
32. ‘For where thou art, there is the world itself, And where thou art not, desolation’
(Henry VI Part 2 – Act 3, Scene 2)
33. ‘You cannot call it love, for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame’
(Hamlet – Act 3, Scene 4)
34. ‘She will die if you love her not, And she will die ere she might make her love known’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 2, Scene 3)
35. ‘Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love’
(As You Like It – Act 4, Scene 1)
36. ‘Men’s vows are women’s traitors’
(Cymbeline – Act 3, Scene 4)
37. ‘Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof’
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 1, Scene 1)
38. ‘Love will not be spurred to what it loathes’
(The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act 5, Scene 2)
39. ‘This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet’
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 2, Scene 1)
40. ‘To be wise and love, Exceeds man’s might’
(Troilus & Cressida – Act 3, Scene 2)
41. ‘They are in the very wrath of love, and they will go together. Clubs cannot part them’
(As You Like It – Act 5, Scene 2)
42. ‘His unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love’
(Othello – Act 4, Scene 2)
43. ‘What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit!’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 5, Scene 1)
44. ‘Is this the generation of love? Hot blood, hot thoughts and hot deeds? Why, they are vipers. Is love a generation of vipers?’
(Troilus & Cressida – Act 3, Scene 1)
45. ‘Love is begun by time, And time qualifies the spark and fire of it’
(Hamlet – Act 4, Scene 7)
46. ‘The sight of lovers feedeth those in love’
(As You Like It – Act 3, Scene 4)
47. ‘Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee, and when I love thee not, chaos is come again’
(Othello – Act 3, Scene 3)
48. ‘Lovers ever run before the clock’
(The Merchant of Venice – Act 2, Scene 6)
49. ‘I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip’
(Othello – Act 4, Scene 3)
50. ‘I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say ‘I love you”
(Henry V – Act 5, Scene 2)
51. ‘I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap’
(Henry VI part 3 – Act 3, Scene 2)
52. ‘You have witchcraft in your lips’
(Henry V – Act 5, Scene 2)
53. ‘I humbly do beseech of your pardon, For too much loving you’
(Othello – Act 3, Scene 3)
54. ‘Kiss me, Kate, we shall be married o’Sunday’
(The Taming of the Shrew – Act 2, Scene 7)
55. ‘I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me’
(Much Ado About Nothing – Act 1, Scene 1)
55. ‘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.
(Romeo and Juliet – Act 2, Scene 1)
What do you think of the above William Shakespeare love quotes? Let us know – tell us your favorites in the comments section below.
If you’re interested in more quotes check out our other relevant articles such as Shakespeare soliloquies, Shakespeare monologues, and the most famous William Shakespeare quotes.
One of many William Shakespeare love quotes from Henry V
Lovers whispering William Shakepseare love quotes to each other at sea
Society tends to despise “love at first sight lovers” yet my favourite quote is ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?’
Amazing collection of love quotes. It really helps to express what I feel for my lover.
Thank you for sharing it.
shakespeare did not write, “who loves who loves not at first sight?”
he was quoting christopher marlowe, who probably had recently
died.
Yes… and no :) Shakespeare was borrowing a line from Marlow but these words were written by Shakespeare to spoken by Phebe in As You Like It, Act 3, Secene 5.
For thy sweet loved remembered such wealth brings that I would scorn to change my state with the kings.
very very loving quotes ! i really love it…
what book is the quote “love that we can’t have is the one that lasts the longest, and hurts the deepest, but feels the strongest”
really beautiful quotes