Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Play ·43 of 348
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"
They never said that.
What people say
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"
What was actually said
"But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!" Romeo — Romeo and Juliet (1597) II.ii
Why it stuck
The question and the answer sit together. Isolating the question alone strips the punchline — Romeo's metaphor of Juliet as the rising sun.
Actors almost always deliver the two lines as a single unit; readers almost always quote only the first.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.