"Ask not of me, love, what is love? Ask what is good of God above; Ask of the great sun what is light; Ask what is darkness of the night; Ask sin of what may be forgiven; Ask what is happiness of heaven; Ask what is folly of the crowd; Ask what is fashion of the shroud; Ask what is sweetness of thy kiss; Ask of thyself what beauty is."

"Could I love less, I should be happier now."

"Man, you got to have love just to set it straight Take control of your mind and meditate Let your soul gravitate to the love y'all"

"I cannot love as I have loved, And yet I know not why; It is the one great woe of life To feel all feeling die."

"Alas! is even love too weak To unlock the heart, and let it speak? Are even lovers powerless to reveal To one another what indeed they feel? I knew the mass of men conceal'd Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd They would by other men be met With blank indifference, or with blame reproved; I knew they lived and moved Trick'd in disguises, alien to the rest Of men, and alien to themselves — and yet The same heart beats in every human breast!"

"Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night."

"Σχέτλι᾽ Ἔρως, μέγα πῆμα, μέγα στύγος ἀνθρώποισιν, ἐκ σέθεν οὐλόμεναί τ᾽ ἔριδες στοναχαί τε γόοι τε, ἄλγεά τ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῖσιν ἀπείρονα τετρήχασιν."

"What love will make you do All the things that we accept Be the things that we regret"

"If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls."

"Hunger allows no choice To the citizen or the police; We must love one another or die."

"If you never know truth then you never know love."

"Love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free."

"We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life."

"Lovers to-day and for all time Preserve the meaning of my rhyme: Love is not kindly nor yet grim But does to you as you to him."

"Before the beginning of years There came to the making of man Time with a gift of tears, Grief with a glass that ran, Pleasure with pain for leaven, Summer with flowers that fell, Remembrance fallen from heaven, And Madness risen from hell, Strength without hands to smite, Love that endures for a breath; Night, the shadow of light, And Life, the shadow of death."

"Amor é um fogo que arde sem se ver, É ferida que dói, e não se sente; É um contentamento descontente, É dor que desatina sem doer. É um não querer mais que bem querer; É um andar solitário entre a gente; É nunca contentar-se de contente; É um cuidar que ganha em se perder. É querer estar preso por vontade; É servir a quem vence, o vencedor; É ter com quem nos mata, lealdade. Mas como causar pode seu favor Nos corações humanos amizade, Se tão contrário a si é o mesmo Amor?"

"Who sings of all of Love's eternity Who shines so bright In all the songs of Love's unending spells? Holy lightning strikes all that's evil Teaching us to love for goodness sake. Hear the music of Love Eternal Teaching us to reach for goodness sake."

"The mightiest love was granted him Love that does not expect to be loved."

"Ἀλλ' ἔπι τοι καὶ ἐμοὶ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή· ἔσσεται ἢ ἠὼς ἢ δείλη ἢ μέσον ἦμαρ ὁππότε τις καὶ ἐμεῖο Ἄρῃ ἐκ θυμὸν ἕληται ἢ ὅ γε δουρὶ βαλὼν ἢ ἀπὸ νευρῆφιν ὀϊστῷ."

"Ἐννοσίγαι' οὐκ ἄν με σαόφρονα μυθήσαιο ἔμμεναι, εἰ δὴ σοί γε βροτῶν ἕνεκα πτολεμίξω δειλῶν, οἳ φύλλοισιν ἐοικότες ἄλλοτε μέν τε ζαφλεγέες τελέθουσιν ἀρούρης καρπὸν ἔδοντες, ἄλλοτε δὲ φθινύθουσιν ἀκήριοι."

"Στρεπτὴ δὲ γλῶσσ' ἐστὶ βροτῶν, πολέες δ' ἔνι μῦθοι παντοῖοι, ἐπέων δὲ πολὺς νομὸς ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα."

"Καὶ σὲ γέρον τὸ πρὶν μὲν ἀκούομεν ὄλβιον εἶναι."

"Ἀλλ' οὐ Ζεὺς ἄνδρεσσι νοήματα πάντα τελευτᾷ."

"Θεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ."

"The Iliad. I remember feeling electrified by that. In a way that I just wanted to talk about it. I carried that text with me everywhere, and it's become such a big influence in how I think of writing. (NANCY: Was it the war story or the relationships?) MM: The war. I still o back to the way Homer depicts the battles, and I remember sitting there glued to this and feeling my heart race, and it felt like a light bulb was going on in my head. I think what Homer was doing with that, what felt so electrifying, was he was naming every single person, and he was calling out their history and who they were, whose child, what they were good at-like describing Hector as "Breaker of Horses.". I thought, This is how we need to think of conflict, and it brought to mind all the questions I had about the revolution in Ethiopia and the people who kept disappearing; or people knew who were jailed and nobody wanted to talk about them or name them. But here was a text that was actually naming them, and it was pivotal for me in understanding what literature could do."

"Οὐ γὰρ ἀνὴρ πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα ἄκμηνος σίτοιο δυνήσεται ἄντα μάχεσθαι."

"Ῥεχθὲν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω."

"Οὐ μὲν γάρ τί πού ἐστιν ὀϊζυρώτερον ἀνδρὸς πάντων, ὅσσά τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει."

"I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aiakos."

"Ἥσω γὰρ καὶ ἐγώ, τὰ δέ κεν Διὶ πάντα μελήσει."

"Ὃ δ' ἐν στροφάλιγγι κονίης κεῖτο μέγας μεγαλωστί, λελασμένος ἱπποσυνάων."

"Ὡς ἔρις ἔκ τε θεῶν ἔκ τ' ἀνθρώπων ἀπόλοιτο καὶ χόλος, ὅς τ' ἐφέηκε πολύφρονά περ χαλεπῆναι, ὅς τε πολὺ γλυκίων μέλιτος καταλειβομένοιο ἀνδρῶν ἐν στήθεσσιν ἀέξεται ἠΰτε καπνός."

"I am foremost of all the Trojan warriors to stave the day of bondage from off them; as for you, vultures shall devour you here."

"Αἰδομένων δ' ἀνδρῶν πλέονες σόοι ἠὲ πέφανται· φευγόντων δ' οὔτ' ἂρ κλέος ὄρνυται οὔτέ τις ἀλκή."

"Ἀλλ' εἰ δή ῥα τότε βλάπτε φρένας εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς ἡμετέρας, νῦν αὐτὸς ἐποτρύνει καὶ ἀνώγει."

"Οὔ οἱ ἀεικὲς ἀμυνομένῳ περὶ πάτρης τεθνάμεν."

"Ἐν γὰρ χερσὶ τέλος πολέμου, ἐπέων δ' ἐνὶ βουλῇ."

"Ἔνθ' Ὕπνῳ ξύμβλητο κασιγνήτῳ Θανάτοιο."

"Ὕπνε ἄναξ πάντων τε θεῶν πάντων τ' ἀνθρώπων."

"Πέμπε δέ μιν πομποῖσιν ἅμα κραιπνοῖσι φέρεσθαι ὕπνῳ καὶ θανάτῳ διδυμάοσιν, οἵ ῥά μιν ὦκα θήσουσ' ἐν Λυκίης εὐρείης πίονι δήμῳ."

"Ῥεῖα δ' ἀρίγνωτος Διὸς ἀνδράσι γίγνεται ἀλκή."

"Τοὶ δ' ἔριδος κρατερῆς καὶ ὁμοιΐου πτολέμοιο πεῖραρ ἐπαλλάξαντες ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροισι τάνυσσαν ἄῤῥηκτόν τ' ἄλυτόν τε, τὸ πολλῶν γούνατ' ἔλυσεν."

"Ἄλλῳ μὲν γὰρ ἔδωκε θεὸς πολεμήϊα ἔργα, ἄλλῳ δ' ὀρχηστύν, ἑτέρῳ κίθαριν καὶ ἀοιδήν, ἄλλῳ δ' ἐν στήθεσσι τιθεῖ νόον εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς ἐσθλόν, τοῦ δέ τε πολλοὶ ἐπαυρίσκοντ' ἄνθρωποι."

"Φράξαντες δόρυ δουρί, σάκος σάκεϊ προθελύμνῳ· ἀσπὶς ἄρ' ἀσπίδ' ἔρειδε, κόρυς κόρυν, ἀνέρα δ' ἀνήρ."

"Οὐ γάρ τις νέμεσις φυγέειν κακόν, οὐδ' ἀνὰ νύκτα. βέλτερον ὃς φεύγων προφύγῃ κακὸν ἠὲ ἁλώῃ."

"Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι."

"Ἔνθ' ἔνι μὲν φιλότης, ἐν δ' ἵμερος, ἐν δ' ὀαριστὺς πάρφασις, ἥ τ' ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων."