Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
He was a boy, just a boy, when I was a very young girl. When I was sixteen, I made the discovery - love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding on something that had always been half in shadow, that's how it struck the world for me. But I was unlucky. Deluded.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the overwhelming and illuminating experience of discovering love as a young person, while also hinting at the complexities and potential disappointments that can come with it.
In this quote, Tennessee Williams expresses the profound impact of first love experienced in youth. He describes it as a sudden revelation that casts light on feelings and emotions that were previously obscured, capturing both the beauty and intensity of that experience. However, he also acknowledges the potential for disillusionment, suggesting that such intense feelings can lead to misjudgments or unrealistic expectations.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the challenges of young love, this quote can illustrate the overwhelming feelings that accompany first experiences of love.
More from Tennessee Williams
All quotes →Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
Show me a person who hasn´t known any sorrow and I´ll show you a superficial.
Success and failure are equally disastrous.
The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
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I could have waited years, now that I knew the end of the story. I was cold and wet and very happy. I could even look with charity towards the altar and the figure dangling there. She loves us both, I thought, but if there is to be a conflict between an image and a man, I know who will win. I could put my hand on her thigh or my mouth on her breast; he was imprisoned behind the altar and couldn't move to plead his cause.
One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.
Worship is love on its knees before the beloved; just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved