“T is an old tale and often told;
But did my fate and wish agree,
Ne'er had been read, in story old,
Of maiden true betray'd for gold,
That loved, or was avenged, like me.”

— Walter Scott , Marmion

Canto II, stanza 27.
Marmion (1808)

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 "T is an old tale and often told; But did my fate and wish agree, Ne'er had been read, in story old, Of maiden true b…" by Walter Scott?

Walter Scott 151

Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832

Related quotes

“Holger wished he had read the old tales more closely; he had only a dim childhood recollection of them.”

Poul Anderson book Three Hearts and Three Lions

Source: Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961), Chapter 10 (p. 88)

“No love-story has ever been told twice. I never heard any tale of lovers that did not seem to me as new as the world on its first morning.”

Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard

Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)

“By lamplight turn these scented leaves and read
a tale of love recorded in old books.”

Nguyễn Du The Tale of Kieu

Source: The Tale of Kiều (1813), Lines 7–8

“As for their healers and their worship of gold books of old lore, there had been tribal stories of this, too, all nonsense, as anything chattered by the ill-informed must be.”

Tanith Lee book Vazkor, Son of Vazkor

Book Two, Part II “The Wolf Hunt”, Chapter 3 (p. 185)
Vazkor, Son of Vazkor (1978)

“Real life is not quite as it is in stories. In the old tales, bad things happen, and when the tale has unfolded and come to its triumphant conclusion, it is as if the bad things had never been. Life is not as simple as that, not quite.”

Juliet Marillier book Daughter of the Forest

Source: Daughter of the Forest

“I am not old, — I cannot be old,
Though threescore years and ten
Have wasted away, like a tale that is told,
The lives of other men:

I am not old ; though friends and foes
Alike have gone to their graves,
And left me alone to my joys or my woes,
As a rock in the midst of the waves.”

Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet

The Song of Seventy.
A Thousand Lines (1846)

“This principle is old, but true as fate,—
Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate.”

Thomas Dekker The Honest Whore

The Honest Whore (1604), Part i, Act iv. Sc. 4.
Compare: "Cæsar said he loved the treason, but hated the traitor", Plutarch, Life of Romulus.
Compare: "treason is loved of many, but the Traitor hated of all", Robert Greene, Pandosto (1588).