“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”
- April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616
- Born in England
- Playwright, poet, actor
- Wrote many masterpieces such as “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Macbeth,” and had a great influence on English literature
table of contents
Quote
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”
Explanation
This quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet uses vivid imagery to describe the intangible and often frustrating nature of love. “Love is a smoke” suggests that love, much like smoke, is something that is difficult to grasp, elusive, and ever-changing. The “fume of sighs” refers to the emotional weight and yearning that often accompanies love—sighs are commonly associated with longing, sorrow, or frustration, which can cloud one’s judgment or clarity, much like smoke can obscure one’s vision. Together, the imagery paints love as something that stirs deep emotions but is difficult to define or hold onto, much like smoke dissipating into the air.
In modern contexts, this quote still resonates with how love can be both beautiful and confounding. It reflects the complexity of romantic emotions, where intense feelings can be simultaneously uplifting and burdensome. Love can bring joy, but it can also lead to heartache, confusion, or unrequited desire, as people often feel a sense of longing or loss. The idea that love is made of “sighs” implies that it is not always a clear or straightforward emotion but something that can come with a mix of passion, pain, and uncertainty.
Ultimately, this quote captures the transient and ethereal nature of love—something that may be deeply felt yet elusive and difficult to fully understand. It reminds us that love, like smoke, is often experienced as a sensory presence that is hard to define or hold onto, but also something that colors and shapes our emotional lives in profound ways.
