KING HENRY: Though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murderèd.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 5, sc. 6, l. 39ff (5.6.39-40) (1595)
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Quotations about:
mixed feelings
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
ORESTES: I’ll go. I’ll start to do this dreadful thing, this horror. Yes, I will. If it’s the gods’ will, I’ll do it. But I take no joy in it.
[ὈΡΈΣΤΗΣ: ἔσειμι: δεινοῦ δ᾽ ἄρχομαι προβλήματος
καὶ δεινὰ δράσω γε — εἰ θεοῖς δοκεῖ τάδε,
ἔστω: πικρὸν δὲ χἡδὺ τἀγώνισμά μοι.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Electra [Ἠλέκτρα], l. 985ff (c. 420 BC) [tr. Wilson (2016)]
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Orestes going to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, who was, along with the already-killed Aegisthus, the murderer of his father, Agamemnon.
Interestingly, earlier translations have him characterize the task as both bitter and sweet; later ones only speak of its bitterness.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:I go in.
Tho' I am entering on a deed that's fraught
With horror, I will execute the deed;
Thus let it be, if thus the righteous Gods
Ordain: altho' this conflict to my soul
At the same time be bitter, and yet sweet.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]I will go in; it is a dreadful task I am beginning and I will do dreadful things. If the gods approve, let it be; to me the contest is bitter and also sweet.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]I will enter in; but I am beginning a dreadful attempt. Ay, and I shall do dreadful things; but if this seems fit to the Gods, let it be; but the contest is for me [at once] bitter and sweet.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]I will go in. A horror I essay!
Yea, horrors will achieve! If this please Heaven,
So be it. Bitter strife, yet sweet, for me.
[tr. Way (1896)]Aye. So be it. -- I have ta'en
A path of many terrors: and shall do
Deeds horrible. 'Tis God will have it so. ...
Is this the joy of battle, or wild woe?
[tr. Murray (1905)]I will go in; 'tis an awful task I undertake; an awful deed I have to do; still if it is Heaven's will, be it so; I loathe and yet I love the enterprise.
[tr. Coleridge (1938 ed.)]Fine. I am going inside. Terrible the deed I shall begin and frightening the deeds I shall accomplish. If this is liked by the gods then so be it. My battle is bitter, not sweet.
[tr. Theodoridis (2006)]I’ll go in.
I’m on the verge of a horrendous act,
something truly dreadful. Well, so be it,
if gods approve of this. And yet, for me
the contest is not sweet at all, but bitter.
[tr. Johnston (2009)]
“I love and hate.” “At once?” you ask, “Now pray explain.”
“I know not how; I feel ’tis so, I’m rent in twain.”[Odi et amo. quare id faciam fortasse requiris
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.]Catullus (c. 84 BC – c. 54 BC) Latin poet [Gaius Valerius Catullus]
Carmina # 85 [tr. Symons-Jeune (1923)]
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(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Tho' I hate, yet I love! -- you'll perhaps ask me, how?
I can't tell; but I'm vext, and feel that I do.
[tr. Nott (1795), # 82 "On His Love"]I hate and love -- ask why -- I can't explain,
I feel 'tis so, and feel it racking pain.
[tr. Lamb (1821), "On His Own Love"]I hate and love -- wherefore I cannot tell,
But by my tortures know the fact too well.
[tr. T. Martin (1861), "Love's Unreason"]I have and love. "Why do I so?"
Perhaps you ask. I can't explain:
The bitter fact I only know,
And torture racks my brain.
[tr. Cranstoun (1867), "On His Love"]Half I hate, half love. How so? one haply requireth.
Nay, I know not; alas feel it, in agony groan.
[tr. Ellis (1871)]Hate I, and love I. Haps thou'lt ask me wherefore I do so.
Wot I not, yet so I do feeling a torture of pain.
[tr. Burton (1893), "How the Poet Loves"]I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.
[tr. Smithers (1894)]I hate and love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.
[tr. Warre Cornish (1904)]I hate and yet I love; perhaps you ask how this can be. I do not know, but that it is so I feel too well, and live in torment.
[tr. Stuttaford (1912)]I hate and love. You question "How?" I lack
An answer, but I feel it on the rack.
[tr. MacNaghten (1925)]I hate and love, nor can the reason tell;
But that I love and hate I know too well.
[tr. Wright (1926), "Odi et Amo"]I hate and love.
And if you ask me why,
I have no answer, but I discern,
can feel, my senses rooted in eternal torture.
[tr. Gregory (1931)]I hate & love. And if you should ask how I can do both,
I couldn't say; but I feel it, and it shivers me.
[tr. C. Martin (1979)]I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask.
I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.
[tr. Kline (2001), "Love-Hate"]I hate and love. You wonder, perhaps, why I'd do that?
I have no idea. I just feel it. I am crucified.
[tr. Green (2005)]I hate and I love. How do I do that, perhaps you ask?
I don't know. But I feel it is happening and I am tormented.
[tr. Wikibooks (2017)]I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask.
I do not know, but I feel it being done and I am tormented.
[tr. Wikisource (2018)]I hate and I love: you might ask why I do this --
I don’t know, but I see it happen and it’s killing me.
[tr. @sententique (2023)]I hate, I love; I love, I hate.
But why, you ask again.
I don't know if it's fault, or fate,
This such exquisite pain.
[tr. Hill (2024)]
