Tout l'Univers obéit à l'Amour ; 
Belle [Psyché]1, soumettez-lui votre âme. 
Les autres dieux à ce dieu font la cour, 
Et leur pouvoir est moins doux que sa flamme. 
Des jeunes cœurs c'est le suprême bien, 
Aimez, aimez ; tout le reste n'est rien.

Sans cet Amour, tant d'objets ravissants, 
[Lambris dorés]2, bois, jardins, et fontaines, 
N'ont point [d'appâts]3 qui ne soient [languissants]4, 
Et [leurs plaisirs sont]5 moins doux que ses peines. 
Des jeunes cœurs c'est le suprême bien 
Aimez, aimez ; tout le reste n'est rien.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes
¹ Lambert: "Philis"
² Lambert: "Palais dorez"
³ Lambert: "d'appas"; Lannoy: "d'attraits"
⁴ Lannoy: "languissans"
⁵ Lambert: "leur plaisir est"

Text Authorship:

• by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), no title, written 1668, appears in Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Tout l'univers obéit à l'amour", CG 464 (1890?), published 1893 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. H. Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
• by Michel Lambert (1610 - 1696), "Tout l'univers obeït à l'Amour" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Heinrich Eduard Josef Lannoy (1787 - 1853), "Tout l'univers obeït à l'Amour", published 1838 [ voice and piano ], in Europa. Chronik der gebildeten Welt III. Band, II. Lieferung  [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Anatole Lionnet (1832 - 1896), "La chanson de l'amour", published <<1884 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Édition H. Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Chanson à Psyché" [ medium voice and piano four-hands ], from 25 Mélodies de J.B. Weckerlin, no. 11, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor], Lindsay Suddaby

This text was added to the website: 2012-04-30
Line count: 12
Word count: 92

The whole Universe obeys Love;
oh beautiful Psyche, submit your soul to him.
This god is courted by the other gods,
and their power is less gentle than his flame.
For young hearts love is the supreme good thing,
so love, love: all the rest is nothing.

Without this Love, so many ravishing objects – ­
gilded panelling, woods, gardens and springs – 
have only the most pallid attractions,
and their pleasures are less sweet that love's pains.
For young hearts love is the supreme good thing,
so love, love: all the rest is nothing.