 Fairest and dearest, your wrath and anger are more heavy than I can bear; but learn that I cannot tell what you wish me to say without sinning against my honour too grievously. |
| There are divers men who make a great show of loyalty, and pretend to such discretion in the hidden things they hear, that at the end folk come to put faith in them. |
| Out of five hundred who speak glibly of love, not one can spell the first letter of his name. |
| The fool shouts loudly, thinking to impress the world. |
| Be sure that you speak with unfeigned lips. |
| He who would tell divers tales must know how to vary the tune. |
| For above all things Love means sweetness, and truth, and measure; yea, loyalty to the loved one and to your word. And because of this I dare not meddle with so high a matter. |
| If one of two lovers is loyal, and the other jealous and false, how may their friendship last, for Love is slain! |
| But sweetly and discreetly love passes from person to person, from heart to heart, or it is nothing worth. |
| Great were the lamentation and the cry when the news of this mischance was noised about the city. Such a tumult of mourning was never before heard, for the whole city was moved. |
| The dead and past stories that I have told again in divers fashions, are not set down without authority. |
| Whosoever counts these Lays as fable, may be assured that I am not of his mind. |
| I love no woman, for love is a serious business, not a jest. Topics: Love Is |
| Now will I rehearse before you a very ancient Breton Lay. As the tale was told to me, so, in turn, will I tell it over again, to the best of my art and knowledge. Hearken now to my story, its why and its reason. |
| For what the lover would, that would the beloved; what she would ask of him that should he go before to grant. Without accord such as this, love is but a bond and a constraint. |
