“Ah! why so rare does cruel Love inspire
Two tender bosoms with a mutual fire?
Say, whence, perfidious, dost thou pleasure find
To sow dissension in the human mind?”

— John Hoole

Book II, line 1
Translations, Orlando Furioso of Ludovico Ariosto (1773)

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 "Ah! why so rare does cruel Love inspire Two tender bosoms with a mutual fire? Say, whence, perfidious, dost thou plea…" by John Hoole?

John Hoole 24

British translator 1727–1803

Related quotes

“Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?”
Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis aequo animoque capis securam, stulte, quietem?

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book III, lines 938–939 (tr. Bailey)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Thou dost but court cold rain, till rain turns fire.”

Henry Vaughan (1621–1695) Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet

"The Rainbow".
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Context: I will on thee as on a comet look,
A comet, the sad world's ill-boding book;
Thy light as luctual and stain'd with woes
I'll judge, where penal flames sit mixt and close.
But though some think thou shin'st but to restrain
Bold storms, and simply dost attend on rain;
Yet I know well, and so our sins require,
Thou dost but court cold rain, till rain turns fire.

“There is a god within us.
It is when he stirs us that our bosom warms; it is
his impulse that sows the seeds of inspiration.”
Est deus in nobis; agitante calescimus illo: impetus hic sacrae semina mentis habet.

Ovid Fasti

VI, lines 5-6; translation by Sir James George Frazer
Fasti (The Festivals)

“O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?”

Dante Alighieri book Purgatorio

Canto XII, lines 95–96 (tr. C. E. Norton).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

“Ah, cruel 'tis to love,
And cruel not to love,
But cruelest of all
To love and love in vain.”

Anacreon (-570–-485 BC) Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns

Odes, XXIX. (XXVII.), 1.

“My Song, I fear that thou wilt find but few
Who fitly shalt conceive thy reasoning,
Of such hard matter dost thou entertain;
Whence, if by misadventure, chance should bring
Thee to base company (as chance may do),
Quite unaware of what thou dost contain,
I prithee, comfort thy sweet self again,
My last delight! tell them that they are dull,
And bid them own that thou art beautiful.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Epipsychidion

Dedication
Epipsychidion (1821)

“Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate
With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon
Of human thought or form, where art thou gone?”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

St. 2
Hymn to Intellectual Beauty (1816)
Context: Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate
With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon
Of human thought or form, where art thou gone?
Why dost thou pass away and leave our state,
This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate?
Ask why the sunlight not for ever
Weaves rainbows o'er yon mountain-river,
Why aught should fail and fade that once is shown,
Why fear and dream and death and birth
Cast on the daylight of this earth
Such gloom, why man has such a scope
For love and hate, despondency and hope?

“Ah, cruel Love! What is the reason why
You seldom make our longings correspond?
How is it, traitor, you rejoice to spy
Two hearts discordant, one repelled, one fond?”

Ludovico Ariosto book Orlando Furioso

Ingiustissimo Amor, perché sì raro
Corrispondenti fai nostri desiri?
Onde, perfido, avvien che t'è sì caro
Il discorde voler ch’in duo cor miri?
Canto II, stanza 1 (tr. B. Reynolds)
Orlando Furioso (1532)

“If thou lovest the Head, thou lovest also the members; if thou lovest not the members, neither dost thou love the Head”

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

p 438
On the Mystical Body of Christ
Context: Choose to love whomsoever thou wilt: all else will follow. Thou mayest say, "I love only God, God the Father." Wrong! If Thou lovest Him, thou dost not love Him alone; but if thou lovest the Father, thou lovest also the Son. Or thou mayest say, "I love the Father and I love the Son, but these alone; God the Father and God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, the Word by whom all things were made, the Word who was made flesh and dwelt amongst us; only these do I love." Wrong again! If thou lovest the Head, thou lovest also the members; if thou lovest not the members, neither dost thou love the Head.

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

“Ah! why so rare does cruel Love inspireTwo tender bosoms with a mutual fire?Say, whence, perfidious, dost thou pleasure findTo sow dissension in the human mind?”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

John Hoole 24

Related quotes

Related topics

“Ah! why so rare does cruel Love inspire
Two tender bosoms with a mutual fire?
Say, whence, perfidious, dost thou pleasure find
To sow dissension in the human mind?”