Straight from today’s Quotle — here’s who really said it, and the story behind it. Play again

Who really said it

When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew

Not William Shakespeare — actually Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito 1842–1918 · Italian librettist, composer & poet
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The line is not Shakespeare’s — it is spoken by young Fenton in Verdi’s 1893 opera Falstaff, from a libretto by Arrigo Boito: “Come ti vidi m’innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai.” Boito adapted Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, but this couplet is his own invention; the popular English wording is a later, anonymous rendering of his Italian. As Quote Investigator ↗ puts it, “Boito should be credited.”

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew” Not Shakespeare. The line is from Arrigo Boito's libretto for Verdi's opera Falstaff (1893), Act II — sung by Fenton: "Come ti vidi m'innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai." The popular English wording is an anonymous paraphrase.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to William Shakespeare. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Arrigo Boito — Italian librettist, composer & poet — wrote the libretti for Verdi's Otello and Falstaff. Theme: "When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Work
Falstaff (opera)
Words / Music
Libretto by Arrigo Boito; music by Giuseppe Verdi
Passage
Act II, Part 2 — sung by Fenton to Nannetta
Premiere
Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1893
Translation
Popular English wording is an anonymous modern rendering; cf. William Weaver (1977)

Come ti vidi
M’innamorai,
E tu sorridi
Perché lo sai.

Fenton’s lines in Boito’s Italian libretto. William Weaver’s 1977 English translation renders them “When I saw you / I fell in love, / And you smile / Because you know it” — the widely shared “you smiled because you knew” is a smoother, unattributed paraphrase of that idea.

Quote Investigator: origin traced to Boito's Falstaff libretto

How we know

  • Quote Investigator ↗ searched Shakespeare’s complete works, found nothing, and traced the line to Fenton in Boito’s libretto for Verdi’s Falstaff.
  • The original Italian — “Come ti vidi m’innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai” — is documented for Arrigo Boito ↗, librettist of Otello and Falstaff.
  • Because Falstaff is built from The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, the line is constantly re-tagged “William Shakespeare” — but it appears in none of his plays.

Boito’s Italian libretto premiered in 1893 and is long in the public domain. But the exact English wording people share is not a documented published translation — it is an anonymous paraphrase that differs from the standard William Weaver translation (1977, itself still in copyright). Because this precise English phrasing cannot be tied to a specific pre-1931 translation, its rights status is best treated as uncertain.

Fact-check

Often misattributed

This is one of the internet’s most durable Shakespeare misattributions — feel-good, romantic, and pinned to the most bankable name in English literature. It is not his.

William Shakespeare Misattributed

The line appears in none of Shakespeare’s plays or sonnets; a full-text search of his works turns up nothing, per Quote Investigator ↗. It is credited to him only because Verdi’s Falstaff is drawn from his comedies.

Romeo and Juliet Wrongly sourced

Some collections (e.g. the 2008 book 101 Ways to Say Thank You) specifically cite Romeo and Juliet, as noted by Quote Investigator ↗. The couplet is not in that play either.

The words are Fenton’s in Arrigo Boito’s libretto for Verdi’s Falstaff (1893) — “Come ti vidi m’innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai” — and Quote Investigator ↗ concludes “Boito should be credited.”

Context

Why it mattered

The line has the ring of Shakespeare because it lives inside his world — but at one remove. When Verdi and Boito adapted The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV into the opera Falstaff, Boito wrote fresh Italian verse for the young lovers Fenton and Nannetta. This couplet is his, not the Bard’s.

Stripped of the opera and passed hand to hand online in English, it lost its author twice over: first Boito’s name, then the translator’s, until only “William Shakespeare” remained on the poster, mug, or wedding invitation.

The words are sung, not spoken — by Boito’s pen, to Verdi’s music.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Love

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: When I Saw You I Fell in Lovequoteinvestigator.com

The definitive investigation: traces the line to Boito's Falstaff libretto and debunks the Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet claims.
Arrigo Boitoen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the librettist; confirms his dates and authorship of the Otello and Falstaff libretti.
Falstaff (opera)en.wikipedia.org

Background on Verdi's 1893 opera and its Shakespearean sources (Merry Wives, Henry IV).
Arrigo Boito — quotesgoodreads.com

Shows the line catalogued under Boito rather than Shakespeare.
Original Italian couplet, glossed1000quotesproject.wordpress.com

Reproduces the Italian line, identifies Fenton and the Act II placement, and notes the Shakespeare misattribution.

The true author

Who really wrote it

Arrigo Boito

1842–1918 · Italian librettist, composer & poet — wrote the libretti for Verdi's Otello and Falstaff

Arrigo Boito (1842–1918) was an Italian poet, composer and critic best remembered as the librettist who gave Giuseppe Verdi the texts for his two late Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). A learned man of letters, he reshaped Shakespeare’s comedy into taut Italian verse — and in the process wrote lyrical lines, like Fenton’s aside to Nannetta, that have no direct counterpart in the English plays.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Arrigo Boito (libretto), Giuseppe Verdi (music), Falstaff (opera, premiered Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1893), Act II, Part 2. Original: “Come ti vidi m’innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai.” English wording is a modern anonymous paraphrase; cf. William Weaver, trans. (1977).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/when-i-saw-you-i-fell-in-love-and-you-smiled-because-you

Copied