Artwork by our CSA Member of the Month Laura Donofrio - On Display for Purchase at McArdles Florist Now!
A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet
Meaning
What matters is what something is, not what it is called.
Origin
From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:
JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man.
O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.
Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
