Assure a man that he has a soul and then frighten him with old wives' tales as to what is to become of him afterward, and you have hooked a fish, a mental slave.
Theodore DreiserRead
I believe in the compelling power of love. I do not understand it. I believe it to be the most fragrant blossom of all this thorny existence.
Interpretation
Love is a powerful and beautiful force, despite the challenges of life.
In this quote, Theodore Dreiser expresses his belief in the extraordinary power of love, recognizing its beauty even amidst the hardships and difficulties of existence. He describes love as the most precious and fragrant aspect of life, which stands out against the backdrop of life's challenges symbolized by thorns, highlighting the complexity and duality of love's nature.
In practice
During a wedding speech to emphasize the importance of love in marriage.
Assure a man that he has a soul and then frighten him with old wives' tales as to what is to become of him afterward, and you have hooked a fish, a mental slave.
And then he sank back and tried, as usual, not to think. He must succeed. That's what the world was made for. That's what he was made for. That was what he would have to do.
Words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.
If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circustance.
Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.
People in general attach too much importance to words. They are under the illusion that talking effects great results. As a matter of fact, words are, as a rule, the shallowest portion of all the argument. They but dimly represent the great surging feelings and desires which lie behind. When the distraction of the tongue is removed, the heart listens.
Life and hope for the world are to be found only in the deeds of love.
The one who will be found in trial capable of great acts of love is ever the one who is always doing considerate small ones.
The problem with idealizing love is that it causes us to develop unrealistic expectations about what love actually is and what it can do for us.
Persistence only proves persistence-it does not prove love. The fact that a romantic pursuer is relentless doesn't mean you are special-it means he is troubled.
Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.
Come away, come away, death,_x000D_ _x000D_ And in sad cypres let me be laid;_x000D_ _x000D_ Fly away, fly away, breath;_x000D_ _x000D_ I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
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