As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
William ShakespeareRead
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
Interpretation
Distance can intensify love, while being together nurtures it.
This quote by William Shakespeare suggests that physical distance can enhance feelings of love, making one appreciate their partner more, akin to how absence can stoke the flames of passion. In contrast, presence strengthens the bond, continually nurturing and developing the love shared between two people, ensuring it remains vibrant and alive.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about long-distance relationships.
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
Love bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter.
Little sleep's-head sprouting hair in the moonlight, when I come back we will go out together, we will walk out together among, the ten thousand things, each scratched too late with such knowledge, the wages of dying is love.
The first lover is kept a long while, when no offer is made of a second.
You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.
Iβve learned that you canβt predict [love] or plan for it. For someone like me who is obsessed with organization and planning, I love the idea that love is the one exception to that. Love is the one wild card.
Love is a command, not just a feeling. Somehow, in the romantic world of music and theater we have made love to be what it is not. We have so mixed it with beauty and charm and sensuality and contact that we have robbed it of its higher call of cherishing and nurturing.
Love was the key to understanding all of the mysteries.
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