Hadewijch Quotes
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They who live without Love are dead. / But the worst of all deaths is this -- / That the loving soul be cowardly toward Love; / For perfect Love is never cowardly, / But claims its rights, which it lacks.
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Love has seven names, / Which, as you know, are appropriate to her; / Chain, light, live coal, and fire - / ... dew, living spring, and hell.
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even if you do the best you can in all things, your human nature must often fall short; so entrust yourself to God's goodness, for his goodness is greater than your failures.
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Do good under all circumstances, but with no care for any profit, or any blessedness, or any damnation, or any salvation, or any martyrdom; but all you do or omit should be for the honor of Love.
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Despair makes us serve evil as much as good.
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It is written in the code of love: He who strikes the blow is himself struck down.
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For this is love's truth; she joins two in one being, makes sweet sour, strangers neighbors, and the lowly noble.
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Take care, you who wish / to deal with names / for love. Behind their sweetness / and wrath, nothing endures. / Nothing but wounds and kisses.
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May your service of love a beautiful thing; want nothing else, fear nothing else and let love be free to become what love truly is.
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Be fervent in God, and let nothing grieve you, whatever you encounter.
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The new year has begun for us. / Now must God grant us with love / That we may be able so to begin it / That it may be of value for Love.
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He who lives in despair / takes and gives in vain.
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What use is it for me to force my nature? / For my nature shall always remain / What it is and conquer what belongs to it, / However men may narrow its path.
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Although the season is joyful everywhere, / And mountain and valley are all verdant, / That would seem a truly small matter to him / Who has met mischance in love.
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although I have no fish, / I do not want any frog; / Or any elderberries either, / Instead of a bunch of grapes: / Although I have no love, / I do not want anything else, / Whether Love is gracious to me or hostile.
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I wish to devote all my time / To noble thoughts about great Love.
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First the lover must learn charity and keep God's law. Then he shall be blessed a hundredfold, and he shall do great things without great effort, and bear all pain without suffering. And so his life will surpass human reason indeed.
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The soul who is most untouched is the most like to God.
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love is that burning fire which devours everything and shall never, never cease in all the endless ages to come.
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The New Year has come to us. / God be blessed for it.