Gather the rose of love, while yet thou mayest,
Loving, be loved; embracing, be embraced.
Under whose feet, subjected to his grace,
Sit nature, fortune, motion, time and place.
For in a world so mutable and blind
it's often constancy to change one's mind.
She fair, he full of bashfulness and truth,
Loved much, hoped little, and desired nought.
In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers,
Why make such game of this poor life of ours?
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Torquato Tasso (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.