Quote for the Day

Kate's reading at the wedding of Thomas and Jess yesterday:

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

By William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Thomas and Jess

Modern day translations of Sonnet 116:

1.
I hope I may never acknowledge any reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn’t be joined together.
Love isn’t really love if it changes when it sees the beloved change or if it disappears when the beloved leaves.
No, love is a constant and unchanging light that shines on storms without being shaken; it is the star that guides every wandering boat. And like a star, its value is beyond measure, though its height can be measured.
Love is not under time’s power, though time has the power to destroy rosy lips and cheeks.
Love does not alter with the passage of brief hours and weeks, but lasts until Doomsday.
If I’m wrong about this and can be proven wrong, I never wrote, and no man ever loved.

2.
Let me not declare any reasons why two true-minded people should not be married.
Love is not love which changes when it finds a change in circumstances, or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is unfaithful.
Oh no! it is a lighthouse that sees storms but it never shaken.
Love is the guiding north star to every lost ship, whose value cannot be calculated, although its altitude can be measured.
Love is not at the mercy of Time, though physical beauty comes within the compass of his sickle.
Love does not alter with hours and weeks but, rather, it endures until the last day of life.
If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love then I recant all that I have written, and no man has ever [truly] loved.

Son Elliot, his partner Maddy, Thomas, Jess and daughter Acacia.