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Ask not of me, love, what is love?
Ask what is good of God above;
Ask of the great sun what is light;
Ask what is darkness of the night;
Ask sin of what may be forgiven;
Ask what is happiness of heaven;
Ask what is folly of the crowd;
Ask what is fashion of the shroud;
Ask what is sweetness of thy kiss;
Ask of thyself what beauty is.

— Philip James Bailey Festus (1813)

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Love

More quotes by Philip James Bailey

Poets are all who love, who feel great truths,
And tell them; and the truth of truths is love.

Festus (1839)

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

Festus (1839)

Evil and good are God's right hand and left.

Festus (1839)

Love spends his all, and still hath store.

Festus (1813)

The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.

Festus (1813)

All Philip James Bailey quotes →

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Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595)

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Not for the body, but for the heart; companion and company are needed.

Sanu Sharma

Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.

Alexander Pope

Attribution

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