Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
William CongreveRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
It's better to experience love and loss than to never have loved at all.
This quote emphasizes the value of love and the experiences that come with it, suggesting that even though love can lead to pain and loss, it is preferable to pass one’s life without the richness that love provides. Congreve argues against living in fear of loss, advocating for embracing love's joys, even with the understanding that they are temporary.
Themes
LoveExperienceLossLifeYouth
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a wedding might use this quote to celebrate the beauty of love.
More from William Congreve
All quotes →She likes herself, yet others hates, For that which in herself she prizes; And while she laughs at them, forgets She is the thing that she despises.
William CongreveRead
Women are like tricks by sleight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand
William CongreveRead
Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure.
William CongreveRead
There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire.
William CongreveRead
Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. Security is an insipid thing.
William CongreveRead
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However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates his gestures, and colors his voice. The stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere. Goriot's voice and gesture had at this moment the power of communication that characterizes the great actor. Are not our finer feelings the poems of the human will?
Honore De BalzacRead
Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.
Fred RogersRead