Full little knowest thou that hast not tried,What hell it is in suing long to bide:To loose good dayes, that might be better spent;To waste long nights in pensive discontent;To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow. Edmund Spenser
Take no repulse, whatever she doth say;For, "get you gone," she doth not mean, "away."Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces;Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces.That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. William Shakespeare
A fool there was and he made his prayer(Even as you and I!)To a rag and a bone and a hank of hairWe called her the woman who did not care),But the fool he called her his lady fair(Even as you and I!) Rudyard Kipling Departmental Ditties and other Verses (1886)
Follow a shadow, it still flies you,Seem to fly, it will pursue:So court a mistress, she denies you;Let her alone, she will court you.Say are not women truly, then,Styled but the shadows of us men? Ben Jonson
ROMANCE, n. Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is tethered to probability, as a domestic horse to the hitching-post, but in romance it ranges at will over the entire region of the imagination -- free, lawless, immune to bit and rein. Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
But in vain did she conjure himTo depart her presence so,Having a thousand tongues t'allure him,And but one to bid him go. Walter Raleigh
Woo the fair one when aroundEarly birds are singing;When o'er all the fragrant groundEarly herbs are springing:When the brookside, bank, and groveAll with blossom laden,Shine with beauty, breathe of love,Woo the timid maiden. William Cullen Bryant
If doughty deeds my lady please,Right soon I'll mount my steed,And strong his arm and fast his seat,That bears me from the meed.Then tell me how to woo thee, love,Oh, tell me how to woo theeFor thy dear sake, nae care I'll takeThough ne'er another trow me. Robert Cunninghame-Grahame of Gartmore
Dating is not only about sharing who you are as a person — it works best when you find out about the other person. Cassindy Chao Ancient Wisdom Modern Love (2024)
What western media describe as "romance", is not true love. It’s a fleeting sexual excitement with no sense of responsibility involved. Ali Khamenei
Romance gathers round an old story like lichen on an old branch. And the story of Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard is so old now — some say a year old, some say even two. How can the children be expected to remember? Eleanor Farjeon Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
He that will win his dame must doAs love does when he draws his bow;With one hand thrust the lady from,And with the other pull her home. Samuel Butler Attributed Forty Thousand Quotations (1917)
She that with poetry is won,Is but a desk to write upon;And what men say of her they meanNo more than on the thing they lean. Samuel Butler Attributed Forty Thousand Quotations (1917)