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Edmund Spenser on Valentine's Day

1550–1599 England

← All quotes by Edmund Spenser

19 quotes

For all that faire is, is by nature good;
That is a signe to know the gentle blood.

Fowre Hymnes (1596)

And all for love, and nothing for reward.

The Faerie Queene (1589)

Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.

The Faerie Queene (1589)

To be wise and eke to love,
Is granted scarce to gods above.

Make hast therefore sweet love, whilest it is prime,
For none can call againe the passed time.

Amoretti (1595)

So love is Lord of all the world by right.

Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595)

I hate the day, because it lendeth light
To see all things, but not my love to see.

Song made in lieu of many ornaments,
With which my love should duly have bene dect.

Epithalamion (1595)

That beauty is not, as fond men misdeem,
An outward shew of things, that only seem.

Fowre Hymnes (1596)

Is not thilke the mery moneth of May,
When love lads masken in fresh aray?

The Shepheardes Calender (1579)

Open the temple gates unto my love,
Open them wide that she may enter in.

Epithalamion (1595)

To be wise and eke to love,
Is graunted scarce to God above.

The Shepheardes Calender (1579)

And is there care in Heaven? And is there love
In heavenly spirits to these Creatures bace?

The Faerie Queene (1589)

Ah, when will this long weary day have end,
And lende me leave to come unto my love?

Epithalamion (1595)

Together linkt with adamantine chains.

Her face so faire, as flesh it seemed not,
But heavenly pourtraict of bright angels' hew,
Cleare as the skye withouten blame or blot,
Through goodly mixture of complexion's dew.

So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought;
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

Amoretti (1595)

Bring therefore all the forces that ye may,
And lay incessant battery to her heart;
Playnts, prayers, vowes, truth, sorrow, and dismay;
Those engins can the proudest love convert:
And, if those fayle, fall down and dy before her;
So dying live, and living do adore her.

Full little knowest thou that hast not tried,
What hell it is in suing long to bide:
To loose good dayes, that might be better spent;
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Edmund Spenser (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.