WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 58ff (2.4.58-61) (1601)

Dave — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:59:56 +0000

FOOL: Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.
Fly away, fly away, breath,
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 58ff (2.4.58-61) (1601)
(Source)

Malory, Thomas -- Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 10, ch. 56 (1485)

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 16:05:51 +0000

The joy of love is too short, and the sorrow thereof, and what cometh thereof, dureth over long.

Thomas Malory (c. 1415-1471) English writer
Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 10, ch. 56 (1485)
(Source)

Brown, Rita Mae -- Riding Shotgun, ch. 17 (1996)

Dave — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:13:57 +0000

Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn’t breaking. It hurts because it’s getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds.

Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American author, playwright
Riding Shotgun, ch. 17 (1996)
(Source)

Crabbe, George -- Tales in Verse, Tale 14 “The Struggles of Conscience” (1812)

Dave — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 00:53:09 +0000

Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.

George Crabbe (1754-1832) English poet, writer, surgeon, clergyman
Tales in Verse, Tale 14 “The Struggles of Conscience” (1812)

See Tennyson (1849).

Parker, Robert -- The Professional, ch. 8 (2009)

Dave — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 15:56:28 +0000

“The best moments in my life,” I said, “have come because I loved somebody.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“And the worst,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said.

Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) American writer
The Professional, ch. 8 (2009)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 3 (frag. 771) (1795) [tr. Finod (1880)]

Dave — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 01:22:02 +0000

The world either breaks or hardens the heart.

[En vivant et en voyant les hommes, il faut que le cœur se briese ou se bronze.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 3 (frag. 771) (1795) [tr. Finod (1880)]
(Source)

(Source (French))

Attributed by Chamfort as a statement in a philosophical debate, made by "M. D---". Finod's translation is very much a paraphrase, as is:

Contact with the world either breaks or hardens the heart.
[ed. Ballou (1882)]

More literal translations:

Living among men and observing them, the heart must either break or turn to bronze.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

In living and in seeing men, the heart must break or be bronzed.
[Source]

Though attributed by Chamfort to "M. D----," he also used the phrase himself, and it is usually attributed to him. Toward the end of his life, he wrote:

Je m'en vais enfin, de ce monde où il faut que le cœur se briese ou se bronze.

[I am leaving at last from this world where the heart must break or become bronze.]

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 246ff (4.3.246-247) (1606)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

MALCOLM: Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 246ff (4.3.246-247) (1606)
(Source)