The Course Of True Love Never

Spoken by Lysander to Hermia in Act I, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595–1596), these words come early in the play as the two lovers plan to elope through the enchanted forest to escape Athenian law. Lysander lists a series of ways in which love has historically been thwarted — by differences in rank, age, and family — before concluding that this is simply love's nature. The play then goes on to demonstrate his point by subjecting both pairs of lovers to magical confusion and comic reversals.