The Romance of Tristan and Iseult

“Fold your arms round me close and strain me so that our hearts may break and our souls go free at last. Take me to that happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none return, but where great singers sing their songs forever.”

“...for most men are unaware that what is in the power of magicians to accomplish, that the heart can also accomplish by dint of love and bravery.”

“they greet those who are cast down, and those in heart, those troubled adn those filled with desire, those who are overjoyed and those disconsolate, all lovers. may all herein find strength against inconstancy, against unfairness and despite and loss and pain and all the bitterness of loving.”

“Apart the lovers could neither live nor die, for it was life and death together;”

“Little son, I have longed a while to see you, and now I see you the fairest thing ever a woman bore. In sadness came I hither, in sadness did I bring forth, and in sadness has your first feast day gone. And as by sadness you came into the world, your name shall be called Tristan; that is the child of sadness.”After she had said these words she kissed him, and immediately when she had kissed him she died.”

“Two days she watched them, seeing them refuse all food or comfort and seeking each other as blind men seek, wretched apart and together more wretched still, for then they trembled each for the first avowal.”

“O homem não deve odiar o que adorou, pode unicamente libertar-se, afastar-se, desprender-se disso.”

“And truly he did well to trust in God, for though the felons mocked him when he said he had loved loyally, yet I call you to witness, my lords who read this, and who know of the philtre drunk upon the high seas, and who, understand whether his love were disloyalty indeed. For men see this and that outward thing, but God alone the heart, and in the heart alone is crime and the sole final judge is God.”

“Not Brangien who was faithful, not Brangien, but themselves had these lovers to fear, for hearts so stricken will lose their vigilance. Love pressed them hard, as thirst presses the dying stag to the stream; love dropped upon them from high heaven, as a hawk slipped after long hunger falls right upon the bird. And love will not be hidden.”

“When King Mark heard of the death of these two lovers, he crossed the sea and came into Brittany; and he had two coffins hewn, for Tristan and Iseult, one of chalcedony for Iseult, and one of beryl for Tristan. And he took their beloved bodies away with him upon his ship to Tintagel, and by a chantry to the left and right of the apse he had their tombs built round. But in one night there sprang from the tomb of Tristan a green leafy briar, strong in branches and in the scent of its flowers. It climbed the chantry and fell to root again by Iseult's tomb. Thrice did the peasants cut it down, but thrice it grew again as flowered and as strong. They told the marvel to King Mark, and he forbade them to cut the briar any more.”

“Nor will I live longer so, for though I will not say one word of penance for my love, which is there and remains forever, yet from now on I will be separate from him.”

“Tristan contrefit sa voix et répondit : « Aux noces de l'abbé du Mont, qui est de mes amis. Il a épousé une abbesse, une grosse dame voilée. De Besançon jusqu'au Mont tous les prêtres, abbés, moines et clercs ordonnés ont été mandés à ces épousailles : et tous sur la lande, portant bâtons et crosses, jouent et dansent à l'ombre des grands arbres. Mais je les ai quittés pour venir ici : car je dois aujourd'hui servir à la table du roi. »”

“O, my God! I must lose you, friend!”

“Nu de Brangien cea credincioasă, ci de ei însuși au a se teme iubiții. Însă cum să stea de veghe inimile lor bete de dragoste? Iubirea îi îmboldește, așa cum setea îl repede pe cerb către râu, la ananghie, ori tot așa precum, după o lungă înfometare, șoimul slobozit se lasă pe pradă. Vai! dragostea nu se poate tănui.”

“on the Queen’s finger was that ring of gold with emeralds set therein, which Mark had given her on her bridal day; but her hand was so wasted that the ring hardly held.”

“— Noi am pierdut lumea și lumea pe noi, nu-i așa Tristan, iubitule?— Iubito, când te am cu mine, ce să mai îmi trebuiască? Dacă lumea toată ar fi într-acest loc cu noi, eu nu te-aș vedea decât pe tine.”

“Subt copaci, fără de a rosti cuvânt, el o strânse la pieptul său; brațele li se împletiră în jurul trupurilor și până în zori, ca și cum ar fi fost cusuți cu ațe tari, nu-și desfăcură strânsoarea. În pofida regelui și a străjerilor, iubiții se bucurară de dragostea lor.”

“Only one of us will need a boat when this combat is ended”

“Now a woman's wrath is a fearful thing, and all men fear it, for according to her love, so will her vengeance be; and their love and their hate come quickly, but their hate lives longer than their love; and they will make play with love, but not with hate.”

“yet I call you to witness, my lords who read this, and who know of the philtre drunk upon the high seas, and who, understand whether his love were disloyalty indeed. For men see this and that outward thing, but God alone the heart, and in the heart alone is crime and the sole final judge is God.”

“J'ignore si la vie est plus grande que la mort, mais l'amour l'est plus que les deux.”