“I can reveal to you that I wished to die -For with much weeping she left meSaying: "Sappho - what suffering is ours!For it is against my will that I leave you."In answer, I said: "Go, happily remembering meFor you know what we shared and pursued -If not, I wish you to see again our [ former joys ] .....The many braids of rose and violet you [ wreathed ]Around yourself at my sideAnd the many garlands of flowersWith which you adorned your soft neck:With royal oils from [ fresh flowers ]You anointed [ yourself ]And on soft beds fulfilled your longing[ For me ] ....”

“Honestly, I wish I were dead.Weeping many tears, she left me and said,“Alas, how terribly we suffer, Sappho.I really leave you against my will.”And I answered: “Farewell, go and remember me.You know how we cared for you.If not, I would remind you ... of our wonderful times.For by my side you put onmany wreaths of rosesand garlands of flowersaround your soft neck.And with precious and royal perfumeyou anointed yourself.On soft beds you satisfied your passion.And there was no dance,no holy placefrom which we were absent.”

“I have not had one word from herFrankly I wish I were deadWhen she left, she wepta great deal; she said to me, "This parting must beendured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."I said, "Go, and be happybut remember (you knowwell) whom you leave shackled by love"If you forget me, thinkof our gifts to Aphroditeand all the loveliness that we shared"all the violet tiaras,braided rosebuds, dill andcrocus twined around your young neck"myrrh poured on your headand on soft mats girls withall that they most wished for beside them"while no voices chantedchoruses without ours,no woodlot bloomed in spring without song...”

“When your beauty struck me, it dissolved me. Deep down, I am not different from you. I dreamed you, I wished for your existence. I see in you that part of me which is you. I surrender my sincerity because if I love you it means we share the same fantasies, we share the same madness.”

“You are livin’,” she says in feigned exasperation. “You just don’t see what I see. You got something special. Something you got from your ma. It’s a thing. I mean, I wish I had it. It’s this thing where you know what it’s going to take, and then you get it done. You push yourself and you get there.”

“I know from the bottom of my heart and with all of it, that it doesn't matter if at the end of your life you can say that you shared the best of yourself with the rest of the world and it doesn't matter if everyone in the world remembers you as wonderful; but what matters is if at the end of your life you can say that you shared the best of yourself with the handful of people who are around you, that you gave the wonderful in you, to the people you love and who love you. Happiness never has and never will come from fame.”