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But true love comes, not so lightly
Without fear and with no doubting,
We always fear that what we love may fail,
So I don't dare to stir myself to speak.

— Bernart de Ventadorn

Mas greu veiretz fin' amansa
ses paor e ses doptansa,
c'ades tem om vas so c'ama, falhir,
per qu'eu no·m aus de parlar enardir.

Original text (French)

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Love

More quotes by Bernart de Ventadorn

This is not love, such has only its name and semblance, which loves no thing unless it gains from it.

D'aisso's fa be femna parer
Ma domna, per qu'e·lh o retrai,
Car no vol so c'om deu voler,
E so c'om li deveda, fai.

Chantars no pot gaire valer,
Si d'ins dal cor no mou lo chans!
Ni chans no pot dal cor mover,
Si no i es fin' amors coraus.

When I behold the skylark move in perfect joy towards its love the sun, when I behold the skylark, growing drunk with joy, forget the use of wings, so that it topples from the height of heavens, I envy the bird's fate.

All Bernart de Ventadorn quotes →

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bernart de Ventadorn (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.