Nossis Νοσσίς
3rd century BC · Locri, southern Italy
Nothing is sweeter than love; every other blessing comes second. Even honey I have spat from my mouth.
ἅδιον οὐδὲν ἔρωτος, ἃ δʼ ὄλβια, δεύτερα πάντα
ἐστὶν ἀπὸ στόματος δʼ ἔπτυσα καὶ τὸ μέλι.Greek Anthology 5.170
In the same thread
Ibn Hazm ابن حزم
c. 1022 · Córdoba, al-Andalus
Love has signs that the sharp-eyed follow and the clever find their way to. The first is the endless gaze. The eye is the wide gate of the soul: it searches out its secrets, tells its thoughts and makes plain what is hidden within. So you see the one who gazes never blink. He moves when the beloved moves, draws aside when the beloved draws aside, and leans wherever the beloved leans, like the chameleon with the sun.
وللحب علامات يقفوها الفطن، ويهتدي إليها الذكي. فأولها إدمان النظر، والعين باب النفس الشارع، وهي المنقبة عن سرائرها، والمعبرة لضمائرها والمعربة عن بواطنها. فترى الناظر لا يطرف، يتنقل بتنقل المحبوب وينزوي بانزوائه، ويميل حيث مال كالحرباء مع الشمسThe Ring of the Dove (Tawq al-Hamama), the chapter on the signs of love
Liu Yong 柳永
earlier 11th century · Song China
My belt grows looser and looser, and I shall never regret it. For her it is worth wasting away like this.
衣帶漸寬終不悔，爲伊消得人憔悴。To the tune "Butterflies Love Flowers"
Ono no Komachi 小野小町
9th century · Heian Japan
What fades without its colour ever showing is the flower in the hearts of the people of this world.
色見えで移ろふものは世の中の人の心の花にぞありけるKokin wakashu, poems of love
Heloise Heloysa
1130s · Paris, France · the Paraclete
To her lord, or rather her father; to her husband, or rather her brother; from his handmaid, or rather his daughter; his wife, or rather his sister: to Abelard, Heloise.
Domino suo, immo patri; coniugi suo, immo fratri; ancilla sua, immo filia; ipsius uxor, immo soror, Abaelardo Heloysa.The salutation of her first letter to Abelard
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us