“49. Love and a cough cannot be hid.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
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George Herbert 216
Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest 1593–1633Related quotes
“As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.”
“A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love”
The Pity Of Love http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1670/; in recent years a statement which might have originated as a misquotation of the first lines of this has been attributed to Oscar Wilde: "To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love." — no occurrence prior to 1999 has yet been located.
The Rose (1893)
Context: A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love:
The folk who are buying and selling,
The clouds on their journey above,
The cold wet winds ever blowing,
And the shadowy hazel grove
Where mouse-grey waters are flowing,
Threaten the head that I love.
“(after coughing) …and then you cough and die.”
Monster.
Other
“I know two kinds of audience only – one coughing, and one not coughing.”
Source: My Life and Music (1961), p. 202
