The Two Gentlemen of Verona Love Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.
| Quote #1 Were't not affection chains thy tender days |
Valentine wishes that his best friend would join him to "see the wonders of the world abroad," but Proteus's love for Julia prevents his friend from leaving Verona.
| Quote #2 To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans; |
At the beginning of the play, Valentine is cynical about love. If a man succeeds in winning a woman's heart, he says, it is a "hapless gain." On the other hand, if a man loses in love, it's a "labour won."
| Quote #3 I leave myself, my friends and all, for love. |
Proteus declares that his love for Julia has transformed him. Ever since he fell in love with Julia, Proteus doesn't study, he argues with his friends, and isn't very witty. Understood this way, love does not change one for the better.
This passage seems to anticipate what famous essayist Francis Bacon later writes (c. 1600) about male-female love: "You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent) there is not one, that hath been transported to the mad degree of love: which shows that great spirits, and great business, do keep out this weak passion" (Francis Bacon, "Of Love").
