Romeo & Juliet Quotes in Modern English
Over the years No Sweat Shakespeare users have asked us to translate many quotes from Romeo & Juliet into plain English. The list below links to the most popular Romeo & Juliet quotes and their modern English translation, whilst underneath those is a selection of other Romeo & Juliet quotes translated.
- How oft when men are at the point of death
- Gallop apace you fiery footed steed
- The clock struck nine when I did see the nurse
- She doth teach the torches to burn bright
- What light through yonder window breaks
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heavin
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Juliet’s beauty would eclipse the sun as daylight does a lamp.At night her eyes would shine so brightly in the sky that the birds would think the night was over and start singing.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Hey, I was just wondering if you can maybe help me figure out what this quote
mean’s from the book Romeo & Juliet (Act I,v speaking to Juliet at the banquet)
“Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged”
Thank you so much 
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
This is quite a complicated one. Romeo and Juliet are pretending that their hands and lips are pilgrims on a holy pilgrimage. They hold hands and talk about sins being forgiven etc. Then he kisses her and says ‘let lips do what hands do’, meaning touch each other. it is a mixture of religion and sex. He carries on the game and says that through their kissing, his sins are forgiven.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act II, Scene II)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Her window is the East and Juliet is the rising sun.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of thy tongue’s uttering, yet i know the sound, art thou romeo, and a montague?
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
I’ve hardly heard your voice and yet I recognise it. Are you Romeo, and a Montague?
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow (Romeo & Juliet quote Act II, Scene II)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Good night, good night! Parting is so sweetly painful that I say goodnight until tomorrow.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act II, Scene II)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
What is there in a name? Whatever name we may call a rose by it would smell just as sweet.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act II, Scene III)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Nice and easy does it; those that run too fast will fall.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Tempt not a desperate man. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act V, Scene III)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Don’t tangle with a desperate man.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
For you and I are past our dancing days. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act I, Scene V)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
You and I are too old for dancing.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act I, Scene V)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
She shows torches how to shine brightly.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear (Romeo & Juliet quote Act I, Scene V)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
She seems to hang against the cheek of night like a diamond earing in an African’s ear.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
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 & Juliet quote Act II, Scene II)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Look how she rests her cheek on her hand. Oh I wish I were a glove on that hand so that I could touch that cheek.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Not stepping o’er the bounds of modesty. (Romeo & Juliet quote Act IV, Sc. II)
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Not going too far.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Romeo and Juliet Act 3, Scene 1
SCENE I. A public place.
MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants
BENVOLIO
I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire:
The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,
And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
MERCUTIO
Thou art like one of those fellows
that when he enters the confines of a
tavern claps me his sword upon the table
and says ‘God send me no need of thee!’
and by the operation of the second cup draws it on the drawer,
when indeed there is no need.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Benvolio
Please, good Mercutio, let’s go. It’s hot and the Capulets are around. If we bump into any of them there’s bound to be a fight because the heat is stirring everyone up.
Mercutio
You are like one of those blokes who goes into a pub, bangs his sword down on the table and says, ‘I hope to God I’m not going to need you’ and then, by the time he’s on his second glass, draws on the barman, when there really was no need for it.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
prologue of romeo and juliet
where civil blood makes civil hands unclean
from forth the fatal loins of these two foes
whose misadventured piteous overthrows
doth with their death bury their parents strife
which, but their children’s end, nought could remove
the fearful passage of their death-marked love
is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
the which if you with patient ears attend,
what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Where fighting between citizens make a great number of people guilty
from the families of these two enemies
(a pair of star crossed lovers kill themselves)
whose accidental unfortunate reversals
end their parents’ conflict with their own deaths.
which nothing could end except their children’s death
the terrible course of their doomed love
is now what you are going to see on the stage during the next two hours
and if you pay attention with all ears
what we’ve missed out in this prologue we will make up for in the play
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
I am doing essay and need a little help – I need to translate a few lines from romeo and Juliet to a more modern English:
I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes
And but thou love me, let them find me here
My life were better ended by their hate
Than death prorogues, wanting of thy love.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
They won’t be able to see me in the dark. And if you only love me, let them find me here. I would rather my life were ended by their hatred than that I went on living without your love.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Hey! I was just wondering if u guys could tell me what these quotes
mean…thanks
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell
as sweet”
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Read a complete analysis of the “What’s in a name, a rose by any other name” phrase
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun”
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Read a complete analysis of the quote ”It is the east, and Juliet is the sun”
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
‘Tis but ty name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Juliet knows that the blood feud prevents her from loving a Montague. She ponders it. It’s only your name that’s the enemy. You are what you are, even though you may be a Montague. What’s ‘Montague’? It isn’t hand or foot or arm or face or any other part belonging to a man. Oh I wish you had a different name. What is so special about a name? A rose, even if it were called something else, would smell just as sweet. So Romeo would still have all the perfection that he has, even if he were not called Romeo. Romeo, take off your name and in exchange for that whole name, which is not really a part of what you are, you can have all of me.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
I pray thee chide me not. Her I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow
The other did not so.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Please don’t reprimand me. The girl I love now returns my love in
every way. The other girl didn’t.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Who had but newly entertain’d revenge,
And to ‘t they go like lightning, for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain.
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
And they went at each other like lightning, because, before I could
part them, strong Tybalt was killed. And as he fell, Romeo turned and
ran away. This is the truth, otherwise you can have me (Benvolio) put
to death.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And ‘twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;
But by and by comes back to Romeo
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
He tries to stop them by beating their swords down, and rushes between
them. Tybald takes advantage and thrusts at Mercutio underneath his
arm. He stabs Mercutio. And then Tybald ran away. Eventually he comes
back to Romeo.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
Benvolio: “Go thither, and with unattainted eye compare her face with
some that I shall show, and I will make thee think thy swan a crow.” [Act
I, Scene II]
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
Benvolio tells Romeo: Go to the party and look at the other girls that
I will show you, with an unbiased eye, and compare their faces with
hers. I will make you think that this girl that you are in love with
(Rosaline) is not a beautiful swan but an ugly crow.
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Quote
can you help me translate this(Act IV scene I): *line 3 Paris-And I am nothing slow to slack his haste
*line 22 Friar- That’s a certain text
*line 63-67-Juliet- Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honor bring.
Be not so long to speak. I long to die.
If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy.
*lines 74-75-friar- A thing like death to chide away this shame,
that cop’st with death himself to scape from it;
Thanks a ton. I just had a bit of trouble on these
Plain English Romeo & Juliet Quote
line 3. And I have no intention of slowing him down.
line 22. That’s very true
63-67. this bloody dagger will decide, over ruling that which your years and skills can’t do. Don’t take so long to speak: I long to die if what you tell me can’t offer a solution.
74-75. Then i think you will undertake something very like death to counter this shame. you will have to cope with death itself in order to escape death.
9 Responses to Romeo & Juliet Quotes in Modern English
I learnt alot,frm da quotes,hopefuly il jst hav 2 knw hw 2 translate
romeo’s solilquey.
act 5
scene 3
Hi Justin, here’s an extract from our Romeo & Juliet ebook with the Romeo quote from Act 5 Scene 3 you’re after:
“Looking at her he had a sudden feeling of happiness. He. couldn’t believe what little effect death had had on her beauty. Death hadn’t defeated her – her lips and cheeks were still rosy.
He looked around the fearful place Tybalt lay on bier a few feet away. ‘Tybalt,’ he said, ‘Is that you in your shroud? Oh what greater favour can I do you than kill myself, the man who was your enemy? Forgive me, cousin.’
Why was she still so beautiful? Was it because Death was in love with her and was keeping her in that dark place as his mistress? If that was so he would stay there with her and never leave. He would join the worms that were her chamber-maids.
This was where he would live forever.
But it was time. ‘Eyes look your last,’ he said. ‘Arms take your last embrace.’ He took her in his arms and raised her up. He kissed her. He lowered her again and took out the poison. It was time. ‘Here’s to my love!’”
hi i need 3 or more shakespearean insults and their meanings in modern day english can you help?
thanks
bethan
Help me please,,These notes where somewhat helpful but maybe i’m stupid but i need a specific line or lines from the play that symbolizes or characterizes Romeo please help ><!!
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
“whats in a name that which we call a rose by any other name that would smell as sweet”
“palm to palm is a holy palmers kiss, let lips do what hands do”
i love that
down with the montagues! down with the the capulets!
Younger than she are happy mothers made and too soon married are those early made.