“Better a sparrow, living or dead, than no birdsong at all.”

“We should live, my Lesbia, and loveAnd value all the talk of stricterOld men at a single penny.Suns can set and rise again;For us, once our brief light has set,There's one unending night for sleeping.Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,Then another thousand, then a second hundred,Then still another thousand, then a hundred;Then, when we've made many thousands,We'll muddle them so as not to knowOr lest some villain overlook usKnowing the total of our kisses.(Translated by Guy Lee)”

“Through many countries and over many seasI have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,to show this final honour to the dead,and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,since now fate takes you, even you, from me.Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,now at least take these last offerings, blessedby the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.Accept, by custom, what a brother's tears drown,and, for eternity, Brother, 'Hail and Farewell'.”

“Let us live and love, nor give a damn what sour old men say.The sun that sets may rise again, but when our light has sunk into the earth it is gone forever.”

“Godlike the man whosits at her side, whowatches and catchesthat laughterwhich (softly) tears meto tatters: nothing is left of me, each timeI see her...”

“soles occidere et redire possunt: nobis cum semel occidit breuis lux, nox est perpetua una dormienda. ”

“Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.”