“How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoyed in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move!
The sound is forced, the notes are few!”

— William Blake , To the Muses

To the Muses, st. 4
1780s, Poetical Sketches (1783)

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William Blake 249

English Romantic poet and artist 1757–1827

Rhonda Byrne (1951) Australian writer and producer

“You do not know the first note of the music that moves me.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“A kick that scarce would move a horse
May kill a sound divine.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

The Yearly Distress.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“How do our lives ravel out
into the no-wind, no-sound,
the weary gestures wearily recapitulant:
echoes of old compulsions with no-hand on no-string:
in sunset we fall into furious attitudes,
dead gestures of dolls.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

Source: As I Lay Dying

“Youth, large, lusty, loving—Youth, full of grace, force, fascination!
Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with equal grace, force, fascination?”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Youth, Day, Old Age and Night
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“In order for this to happen, your entire frame of reference will have to change, and you will be forced to surrender many things that you now scarcely know you have.”

James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

“"You are old, Father William." the young man cried,
"The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, Father William—a hearty old man:
Now tell me the reason, I pray."”

Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet

The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Southey/the_old_man's_comforts.htm, st. 1 (1799).

“My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.”

Tom Robbins book Still Life with Woodpecker

Bernard to Leigh-Cheri, in Phase III, Ch. 46
Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
Context: Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.