Gather the fleet flower of your youth,
Take ye your pleasure at the best;
Be merry ere your beauty flit,
For length of days will tarnish it
Like roses that were loveliest.

— Pierre de Ronsard

Tandis que vostre âge fleuronne
En sa plus verte nouveauté,
Cueillez, cueillez vostre jeunesse:
Comme à ceste fleur la vieillesse
Fera ternir vostre beauté.

Original text (French)

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More quotes by Pierre de Ronsard

Not too high, nor too low—is of all styles the best,
As the epics of Homer and Virgil attest.

I would be the ribbon
That binds your lovely breast,
I would be the necklace
That adorns your ivory throat.

Gather today the roses of life.

Darling, each morning a blooded rose
Lures the sunlight in, and shows
Her soft, moist and secret part;
See now, before you go to bed,
Her skirts replaced, her darker red:
A color like your own, sweetheart.

When you are very old, at evening, by candelight,
Sitting near the fire, spooling and spinning the wool,
You will say, in wonder, as you sing my verses,
"Ronsard praised me in the days when I was beautiful."

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Attribution

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

Gather the fleet flower of your youth,Take ye your pleasure at the best;Be merry ere your beauty flit,For length of days will tarnish itLike roses that were loveliest.

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Attribution

Gather the fleet flower of your youth,
Take ye your pleasure at the best;
Be merry ere your beauty flit,
For length of days will tarnish it
Like roses that were loveliest.