Origins of "It's better to have loved and lost ..."

Factual Questions
1

Who first said/wrote it?

Poison?

Sam Butler?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson?

2

Seems Alfred Lord Tennisball is the origin.

P.S. Google is your friend…

3

That said, Sappho wasn’t too far off: “I know that in this world man cannot have the best; yet to pray for a part of what was once shared is better than to forget it.”

4

nm…

5

Yes, from In Memoriam A.H.H.. In that context, Tennyson was talking about the death of a close friend (not a breakup with a girlfriend).