“But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity”

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning , book Sonnets from the Portuguese

No. XIV
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Context: If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile —her look —her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "But love me for love's sake, that evermore Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 88

English poet, author 1806–1861

Related quotes

“If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning book Sonnets from the Portuguese

No. XIV
Source: Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Context: If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile —her look —her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

“Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”

Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher

Tractatus VII, 8 http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170207.htm
Latin: "dilige et quod vis fac."; falsely often: "ama et fac quod vis."
Translation by Professor Joseph Fletcher: Love and then what you will, do.
In epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos