Tasso Quotes & Sayings

He, full of bashfulness and truth, loved much, hoped little, and desired naught. — Torquato Tasso

Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door. — Torquato Tasso

Love is when you don't have to be with another person to touch their heart! — Torquato Tasso

Any time not spent on love is wasted. — Torquato Tasso

As shaking terrors from his blazing hair, a sanguine comet gleams through dusky air. — Torquato Tasso

A fool is he that comes to preach or prate,
When men with swords their right and wrong debate.
[It., Chi conta i colpi e la dovuta offesa,
Mentr' arde la tenzon, misura e pesa?] — Torquato Tasso

Not for no cold did freeze,
Nor any cloud beguile
Th'eternal flowering spring — Torquato Tasso

O subtle love! a thousand wiles thou hast, by humble suit, by service, or by hire, to win a maiden's hold,
a thing soon done, for nature framed all women to be won. — Torquato Tasso

Hadst thou but tasted once the thousandth part
Of joys, which bless the loved and loving heart,
Your words repentant and your sighs would prove,
Lost is the time which is not past in love. — Torquato Tasso

Imagination is often truer than fact," said Gwendolen, decisively, though she could no more have explained these glib words than if they had been Coptic or Etruscan. "I shall be so glad to learn all about Tasso - and his madness especially. I suppose poets are always a little mad." "To be sure - 'the poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling'; and somebody says of Marlowe - 'For that fine madness still he did maintain, Which always should possess the poet's brain.'" "But it was not always found out, was it?" said Gwendolen innocently. "I suppose some of them rolled their eyes in private. Mad people are often very cunning. — George Eliot

It is the fortunate who should extol fortune. — Torquato Tasso

Love is when he gives you a piece of your soul, that you never knew was missing. — Torquato Tasso

Read, whilst you arm you; arm you, whilst you read. — Torquato Tasso

Perhaps if only once you did enjoy
The thousandth part of all the happiness
A heart beloved enjoys, returning love,
Repentant, you would surely sighing say,
"All time is truly lost and gone
Which is not spent in serving love." — Torquato Tasso

Lost is the time that you don't spend for love. — Torquato Tasso

O happy, golden age!
Not for that rivers ran
With streams of milk, and honey dropped from trees — Torquato Tasso

None merits the name of Creator but God and the poet. — Torquato Tasso

Women have tongues of craft, and hearts of guile,
They will, they will not; fools that on them trust;
For in their speech is death, hell in their smile.
[It., Femmina e cosa garrula e fallace:
Vuole e disvuole, e folle uom chi sen fida,
Si tra se volge.] — Torquato Tasso

For when last need to desperation driveth,
Who dareth most he wiseth counsel giveth.
[It., Che spesso avvien che ne' maggior perigli
Son piu audaci gli ottimi consigli.] — Torquato Tasso

Then amongst flowers and springs,
Making delightful sport,
Sat lovers without conflict, without flame — Torquato Tasso

The day of fortune is like a harvest day, We must be busy when the corn is ripe. — Torquato Tasso

They make their fortune who are stout and wise,
Wit rules the heavens, discretion guides the skies.
[Lat., Che sovente addivien che'l saggio e'l forte.
Fabro a se stesso e di beata sorte.] — Torquato Tasso

True love cannot be found where it does not exist, nor can it be denied where it does — Torquato Tasso

Virtue's guard is labor; ease, her sleep. — Torquato Tasso

Grave was the man in years, in looks, in word, his locks were grey, yet was his courage green. — Torquato Tasso

Now the twelfth canto of Book II is an almost literal translation from Tasso description in the Jerusalem Delivered of the island of Armida. That poem was not printed till 1582. It is likely enough that Spenser may have seen part of it in manuscript, which would account for the general resemblance of the Adonis passages, though the likeness is not close enough to make any debt certain. — Janet Spens