Authors:

But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old.

William Congreve (1706). “The Way of the World: A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, by His Majesty's Servants. Written by Mr. Congreve”, p.13
But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have