Original text (Italian)
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.
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.
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.