“The love of man and woman is as fire
To warm, to light, but surely to consume
And self-consuming die…
But comrade-love is as a welding blast
Of candid flame and ardent temperature:
Glowing more fervent, it doth bind more fast;
And melting both but makes the union sure.
The dross alone is burnt—till at the last
The steel, if cold, is one and strong and pure.”
My Comrade, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
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James Jeffrey Roche5
American journalist 1847–1908Related quotes
“Just as camphor is consumed by the flames of fire, so also, mind must be consumed by soul-fire.”
Bhagawan Nityananda (1897–1961) Hindu guru and saint
4
The Chidakasha Gita (1927)
“The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher
“When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed”
Itaque adulescentes mihi mori sic videntur, ut cum aquae multitudine flammae vis opprimitur, senes autem sic, ut cum sua sponte nulla adhibita vi consumptus ignis exstinguitur; et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sunt, vix evelluntur, si matura et cocta, decidunt, sic vitam adulescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturitas; quae quidem mihi tam iucunda est, ut, quo propius ad mortem accedam, quasi terram videre videar aliquandoque in portum ex longa navigatione esse venturus.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
section 71 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0039%3Asection%3D71 <br class="br">Cato Maior de Senectute – On Old Age (44 BC) <br class="br">Context: When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed; and, just as apples when they are green are with difficulty plucked from the tree, but when ripe and mellow fall of themselves, so, with the young, death comes as a result of force, while with the old it is the result of ripeness. To me, indeed, the thought of this "ripeness" for death is so pleasant, that the nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in his home port after a long voyage.
Camille Paglia (1947) American writer
Source: Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), p. 521
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet
Of Immortality.
Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)
Context: God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love in all he doeth,
Love, a brilliant fire, to gladden or consume:
The wicked work their woe by looking upon love, and hating it:
The righteous find their joys in yearning on its loveliness for ever.
“Woman over money is like the sun upon ice, which is all the time: melting and consuming it.”
Bernardo Dovizi (1470–1520) Italian cardinal and playwright
Act V, scene I. — (Samia).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 340.
La Calandria (c. 1507)
