A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

One cannot LOVE and be wise
Cf. PUBLILIUS SYRUS Sententiae xxii. amare et sapere vix deo conceditur, to love and to be wise is scarcely allowed to God.

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  c 1527 T. BERTHELET tr. Erasmus’ Sayings of Wise Men B1V To have a sadde [serious] mynde and loue is nat in one person. 1539 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages II. A5 To be in loue and to be wyse is scase graunted to god. 1612 BACON Essays ‘Of Love’ xii. It is impossible to loue and bee wise. 1631 R. BRATHWAIT English Gentlewoman 32 The Louer is euer blinded.. with affection.. whence came that vsuall saying One cannot loue and be wise. 1872 G. ELIOT Middlemarch II. III. xxvii. If a man could not love and be wise, surely he could flirt and be wise at the same time? 2005 Hindustan Times 11 Oct. (online) The Delhi High Court last week refused to nullify the marriage of a 15-year-old girl on the ground that she had reached the ‘age of discretion’ . . That phrases like ‘one cannot love and be wise’.. figured in the Delhi HC judgment is bewildering. ■love; wisdom
  

LOVE begets love
Cf. L. amor gignit amorem, love produces love.

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  1648 HERRICK Hesperides 297 Love love begets, then never be Unsoft to him who’s smooth to thee. 1812 E. NARES I’ll consider of It iii. ‘Love’ says the proverb, ‘produces love.’ 1909 A. MACLAREN Epistle to Ephesians 275 Love begets love, and.. if a man loves God, then that glowing beam will glow whether it is turned to earth or turned to heaven. 1958 R. FENISONG Death of Party vi. The cliche that ‘love breeds love’ was a blatant lie. ■love; reciprocity
  

LOVE is blind
Cf. THEOCRITUS Idyll x. 19 ^:■ love is blind; PLAUTUS Miles Gloriosus 1. 1259 caeca amore est, she is blinded by love.

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  c 1390 CHAUCER Merchant’s Tale 1.1598 For love is blynd alday, and may nat see. 1591 SHAKESPEARE Two Gentlemen of Verona II. i. 61 If you love her you cannot see her.—Why?—Because Love is blind. 1978 A. MALING Lucky Devil xii. ‘How did you ever come to marry an idiot like Irving?’.. ‘Love is blind.’ 2002 Spectator 25 May 70 And, if love is blind, how come lingerie is so popular? ■love