The law is a gun, which if it misses a pigeon always kills a crow; if it does not strike the guilty, it hits someone else. As every crime creates a law, so in turn every law creates a crime.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
A chord, stronger or weaker, is snapped asunder in every parting, and time's busy fingers are not practiced in re-splicing broken ties. Meet again you may; will it be in the same way? With the same sympathies? With the same sentiments? Will the souls, hurrying on in diverse paths, unite once more, as if the interval had been a dream? Rarely, rarely!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Parting leads to changed connections that are difficult to restore. Time alters the nature of our relationships and feelings.
This quote emphasizes the fragile and complicated nature of human relationships. Every parting creates a disruption or a severing of emotional ties, which can be very hard to mend over time. The author reflects on the uncertainty of reuniting after separation: even if individuals meet again, the familiarity, shared feelings, and deep connections may no longer exist, suggesting that time and experiences alter our relationships in profound ways.
Themes
PartingRelationshipsConnectionsChangeTime
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of cherishing relationships, one might say, 'As Edward Bulwer-Lytton once expressed, parting creates a disconnect that can rarely be mended.'
More from Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron Lytton
All quotes →The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
There are two lives to each of us, the life of our actions, and the life of our minds and hearts. History reveals men's deeds and their outward characters, but not themselves. There is a secret self that has its own life, unpenetrated and unguessed.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
No author ever drew a character consistent to human nature, but he was forced to ascribe to it many inconsistencies.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
Revenge is a common passion; it is the sin of the uninstructed. The savage deems it noble;but the religion of Christ, which is the sublime civilizer, emphatically condemns it. Why? Because religion ever seeks to ennoble man; and nothing so debases him as revenge.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
Fate! There is no fate. Between the thought and the success God is the only agent. Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1St Baron LyttonRead
Similar quotes
One minute of reconciliation is worth more than a whole life of friendship!
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
The act of sending a letter is an act of generosity, even if, in retrospect, it might seem reckless. Why regret one's generosity? Why regret one's impulsiveness, one's misjudgment of others? The inevitable discovery that someone is selling letters you'd written in trust is simply to discover an obvious human truth: there are those who don't cherish us as we'd cherished them, and had wished to be cherished by them.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Aren't I enough for you?' she asked. 'No,' he said. 'You are enough for me, as far as a woman is concerned. You are all women to me. But I wanted a man friend, as eternal as you and I are eternal.' (Women in Love)
D. H. LawrenceRead
You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do.
Hilary MantelRead
A girl doesn't always want to go out, you know, Mr. Wind-Up Bird. Sometimes she feels like being nasty--like, if the guy's gonna wait, let him really wait.
Haruki MurakamiRead
When a man says to me, 'Let us work together in the great cause you have undertaken, and let me be your companion and aid, for I admire you more than I have ever admired any other woman,' then I shall say, 'I am yours truly'; but he must ask me to be his equal, not his slave.
Susan B. AnthonyRead