Title poem, section VIII.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
“This little composition, which is, alas, the last mortal sin of my old age.”
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Italian composer
Cette petite composition qui est, hélas, le dernier péché mortel de ma vieillesse.
Introductory note to the Petite Messe Solennelle. Translation from Justin Wintle (ed.) Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture (2002) vol. 2, p. 527.
“Alas! is even love too weak
To unlock the heart, and let it speak?”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
" The Buried Life http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/writings/buriedlife.html" (1852), st. 2 <br class="br">Context: Alas! is even love too weak<br>To unlock the heart, and let it speak?<br>Are even lovers powerless to reveal<br>To one another what indeed they feel?<br>I knew the mass of men conceal'd<br>Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd<br>They would by other men be met<br>With blank indifference, or with blame reproved;<br>I knew they lived and moved<br>Trick'd in disguises, alien to the rest<br>Of men, and alien to themselves — and yet<br>The same heart beats in every human breast!
“Weep," said Athos, "weep, heart full of love, youth, and life! Alas, would I could weep like you!”
Alexandre Dumas book The Three Musketeers
Source: The Three Musketeers (1844), Ch. 63: The Drop of Water.
“Alas! A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections — a mere heart of stone.”
Charles Darwin book More Letters of Charles Darwin
Letter to T.H. Huxley, 9 July 1857, More Letters of Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin and A.C. Seward, editors (1903) volume I, chapter II: "Evolution, 1844-1858", page 98 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=141&itemID=F1548.1&viewtype=image <br class="br">Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements
Muhammad al-Baqir (677–733) fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams
Qur'an, 83:14
Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.73, p. 332
Religious Wisdom
