Sonnet 116 quotes
6 famous lines from Sonnet 116 (1609) by William Shakespeare, word for word, with what each means and where it comes from.
1 min read · 14 lines
- 1
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:Meaning: True love unites faithful minds and does not change when circumstances change or a partner pulls away.
The poetStanza 1, lines 1 to 4 - 2
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;Meaning: Love remains steady through hardship, like a fixed landmark that withstands storms.
The poetStanza 1, lines 5 to 6 - 3
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.Meaning: Love guides lost people like a navigation star whose position can be measured but whose value cannot.
The poetStanza 1, lines 7 to 8 - 4
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;Meaning: Time can destroy youthful beauty, but it has no power over true love.
The poetStanza 1, lines 9 to 10
- 5
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.Meaning: True love does not fade with passing time but endures until the end of the world.
The poetStanza 1, lines 11 to 12 - 6
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.Meaning: The poet stakes his writing and all human experience of love on the truth of his argument.
The poetStanza 1, lines 13 to 14
Questions about these lines
What does the opening of Sonnet 116 mean?
The speaker refuses to recognize obstacles to a union of faithful minds. He defines genuine love as constant, even when circumstances change or one partner withdraws.
Why does Shakespeare compare love to a star in Sonnet 116?
A navigation star helps sailors find their way. Similarly, love provides reliable guidance through uncertainty; its position may be measurable, but its true value is beyond calculation.
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