“What sweeter than this in the world!
Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved.
That was all sorrow, this is all joy
Those were all words, this is all reality.”
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Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr 11
poet 967–1049Related quotes
“Joy is deeper than sorrow, for all joy seeks eternity.”
Academy of Achievement interview (2006)
Context: In our culture, we think that happy and color is trivial, that black and darkness is deeper. But Nietzsche said — which is a line that I firmly believe — "Joy is deeper than sorrow, for all joy seeks eternity." And if you see Grendel, you'll see, as he's on the edge of the abyss, ready to leap to his death, he sings, "Is it joy I feel? Is it joy I feel?" And it's so, so moving. You can have a lot of different explanations for the ending of that opera, but there is something so palpable that you will feel when he sings those lines.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 92.
“Sweet are the words of Love, sweeter his thoughts:
Sweetest of all what Love nor says nor thinks.”
De Flagello myrteo. clxv.
“But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.”
O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover.
Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
Oh night thou was my guide
Oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other.
Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)
Dark Night of the Soul
Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948)
“A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
