Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
I'm before him on my knees, and he kisses me He assumes I lose my reason and I do. Men are stupid, men are vain, Love's disgusting, love's insane, A humiliating business-oh how true.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the complexities and absurdities of love, including feelings of humiliation and irrationality.
In this quote, Stephen Sondheim captures the paradoxical nature of love, portraying it as both enchanting and humiliating. The speaker finds themselves in a subordinate position, highlighting how love can make one feel powerless and absurd, emphasizing the frustration and insanity often associated with romantic relationships. This raw confession reveals the vulnerability and the darker aspects of love, suggesting that while love can be beautiful, it can also lead to feelings of folly and disillusionment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a discussion on the challenges of romantic relationships during a relationship counseling session.
More from Stephen Sondheim
All quotes βAfter the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
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Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.
Similar quotes
Maybe true love isn't out there for me, but I can sublimate my loneliness with the notion that true love is out there for someone.
Then again, you cannot stop the flood of desire as it moves through the world, inappropriate though it may sometimes be. It is the prerogative of all humans to make ludicrous choices, to fall in love with the most unlikely of partners, and to set themselves up for the most predicatable of calamities.
I don't care who anybody sleeps with. If a couple has been together all that time - and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones - I think it's fine if they want to get married. I don't know how people can get so anti-something.
Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.
Everybody said, "Follow your heart". I did, it got broken
If the human heart sometimes finds moments of pause as it ascends the slopes of affection, it rarely halts on the way down.