How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #1
'[...] you will also discover that, even though Love is more inclined to take up his abode in a gay palace and a dainty bedchamber than in a wretched hovel, there is no denying that he sometimes makes his powers felt among pathless woods, on rugged mountains, and in desert caves; nor is this surprising, since all living things are subject to his say.' (III.10.274, Dioneo's tale of Alibech and Rustico)
We're talking about Love with a capital "L" here, the personified version that walks around shooting people through the eyes with arrows. Those arrows eventually make their way into the heart—and it doesn't matter what manner of person it seeks out. Love's a ruthless but democratic master. Love subdues people, who are helpless when they're smitten.
Quote #2
Moreover, whilst I have always striven to please you with all my might, henceforth I shall redouble my efforts towards that end, secure in the knowledge that no reasonable person will deny that I and other men who love you are only doing what is natural. And that in order to oppose the laws of nature, one has to possess exceptional powers, which often turn out to have been used, not only in vain, but to the serious harm of those who employ them. (IV.Introduction.290, Boccaccio writing)
Here it is from the horse's mouth. Boccaccio justifies his devotion to lifelong love for women as a natural force to be resisted at your own risk. We see over and over again in the stories what happens to lovers whose love is repressed or thwarted for one reason or another—they get sick or die.
Quote #3
Being very receptive to tales of gallant men, she lovingly treasured the various accounts that filtered through to her on the subject f Gerbino's valorous exploits, and was fascinated by them to such a degree that she formed a mental picture of the sort of man he was, falling passionately in love with him; and nothing gave her greater pleasure than to talk about Gerbino and to listen whenever his name was mentioned by others. (IV.4.321, Elissa's story of Gerbino, Introduction)
Elissa reminds us that there are many ways to fall in love. Love is so powerful that just hearing about someone's beauty or nobility can do the trick, especially if you yourself, like the lady in question, are noble of heart. This sounds a little like the kind of infatuation that people have for celebrities. The lovers in this story go to the ends of the earth for each other despite having never met, and are rewarded for their efforts by being murdered. If you think falling in love because of a person's back-story is weird, take another look at Shakespeare's Othello. It may not have ended well there either, but Desdemona's a sucker for a heroic tale.
Quote #4
'It is my conviction that no mortal being who is without experience of love can ever lay claim to true excellence. And if you are in love, or have ever been in love, it will not be difficult for you to understand what it is that I desire. For I am in love, gentlemen, and it was love that impelled me to engage you for the task that lies before us.' (IV.4.323, Elissa's story of Gerbino)
Gerbino subscribes to a system of love called amour courtois or courtly love. He is expressing two core tenets of this belief system: love ennobles and love compels. Gerbino can count on his European crew to understand this and go with him into battle to rescue his beloved. But will the hostile Tunisian crew be convinced? Spoiler: they won't.
Quote #5
'Surely, all we need to say is that the lofty virtues instilled by Heaven in Cimon's valiant spirit were chained together and locked away by envious Fortune in a very small section of his heart, and that her mighty bonds had been shattered and torn apart by a much more powerful force, in other words, that of Love. Being a rouser of sleeping talents, Love had rescued those virtues from the darkness in which they had lain so cruelly hidden, and forced them into the light [...]' (V.1.370, Panfilo's story of Cimon)
We've got two major agents of Fate working at cross-purposes in the character of Cimon. While Cimon acts like a troglodyte for the majority of his young life, it really only takes one glimpse of Iphigenia's naked body to turn him into a gentleman and a scholar. In the Fortune vs. Love smackdown, score one for Love, who turns a disheveled blockhead into a noble gentleman.
Quote #6
'As we have already had occasion to remark, whilst Love readily sets up house in the mansions of the aristocracy, this is no reason for concluding that he declines to govern the dwellings of the poor. On the contrary, he sometimes chooses such places for a display of strength no less awe-inspiring than that used by a mighty overlord to intimidate the richest of his subjects.' (IV.7.338, Emilia's Tale of Simona and Pasquino)
It may seem like an obvious thing to say—poor people can fall in love as easily as the wealthy—but this concept is a bit more complex. According to the tenets of courtly love, you're really only capable of loving if you are gentil, and generally that only happens if you've been brought up in a wealthy household. Emilia makes it clear that Love can succeed wherever he moves in and sets up shop.
Quote #7
'Oh, happy souls, who within a space of a single day were granted release from your passionate love and your mortal existence! And happier still, if your destination was shared! And happy beyond description, if love is possible after death, and you love one another in the after-life as deeply as you did on earth!' (IV.7.341, Emilia's tale of Pasquino and Simona)
The romantic ideal of dying without breaking your bonds with your lover was another exalted element of courtly love. Love does continue after death, at least according to Emilia, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
Quote #8
'Sir, I am led here, not because I love you, but because I was ordered to come by my husband, who, paying more regard to the labors of your unruly love that to his own or his wife's reputation, has constrained me to call upon you.' (X.5.729, Emilia's story of Dianora and Ansaldo)
This passage is an example of respect for the rules of courtly love. Dianora's husband is so impressed with her admirer's demonstration of his passionate love, that he sends her to see him and gives her permission to have sex with him. Dianora thinks this might ruin her reputation, but her husband seems to be giving priority to acknowledging the lover's efforts and rewarding them.
Quote #9
'[...] I am young, and youth is entirely subject to the power of Love. So that wherever Love decides to lead me, I am bound to follow." (X.8.748, Filomena's story of Titus and Gisippus)
Titus exonerates himself from stealing his best friend's fiancée by claiming that young people are especially helpless in the face of the forces of Love. One message of The Decameron, though, is that love is master of people of all ages.
Quote #10
'But as you know far better than I, when people fall in love they are guided, not by reason, but by their natural inclinations and desires. These I repeatedly opposed with all my strength until, no longer able to resist, I loved you then as I love you now and as I shall love you forever.' (X.8.744)
Lisa's fallen in love with King Peter even though she knows it's an absolutely hopeless scenario, and she gives us a clear statement about how love overwhelms our rational minds. She does exactly the right thing: she tries to resist love, then gives in and becomes deathly ill. The king is impressed with this courtly-love attitude in a common girl like Lisa and rewards her by setting her up with a husband and an estate.
Quote #11
'I know the havoc that the powers of Love can inflict, I know they have led, not one, but countless lovers to an unhappy death; and I can see that they have taken so tight a hold upon you that there is no longer any question of your turning back, or of conquering your tears. If you were to go on like this you would perish, in which event there is no longer any doubt that I should speedily follow you. So even if I had no other cause for loving you, your life is precious to me because my own life depends upon it.' (X.8.751, Filomena's tale of Titus and Gisippus)
If you aren't reading this one carefully, you would think that this is one lover addressing another. In fact, you are looking at one part of a conversation between two best friends. Keep in mind that the concept of friendship at this time has a much wider scope than it does now. These two friends are truly soul mates. If one breaks his heart over something, the other isn't going to last. In Arthurian legend, Prince Galehaut, whose name provides the secondary title for The Decameron, nearly died of grief when he thought Lancelot was dead.