L'Amour

Being a French major, a large part of my life revolves around the French language. Over the years, I have been exposed to the thoughts and ideas of many French authors on one of the most universal topics: l'amour. In honor of Valentine's day, I thought I would post some of my favorites in their English translation, for those of you who don't speak the language of love. ;) Amusez-vous bien!

"You have been the first among my joys, and you shall be the last, so long as there is life in me." ~ Bernart de Ventadour

"The heart has its reason that reason knows nothing of." ~ Blaise Pascal

"True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen." ~ François de la Rochefoucauld

"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties." ~Jules Renard

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end." ~Madame De Stael

"True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart." ~ Honoré De Balzac

"How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said." ~ Victor Hugo