Does not a man physically tremble under the mere look of a wild beast or fellow-man that is stronger than himself? Does not a woman redden all over when she feels her lover's eyes on her? How then should one doubt the mysterious power of one individual over another?
Interpretation
The quote highlights the powerful, often subconscious influence individuals have on one another, especially in intimate relationships.
Jane Welsh Carlyle's quote reflects on the profound impact that the presence and gaze of others can have on us. It emphasizes how a person can elicit strong emotional responses, such as fear or attraction, purely through their physical presence or awareness of our vulnerability. The observation of how both fear and love can create intense reactions underlines the mysterious and potent nature of interpersonal connections.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the dynamics of relationships during a psychology class.
How many precious things do we not already possess which others have not - have hardly an idea of! Let us enjoy these, then, and bless God that we are permitted to enjoy them, rather than importune His goodness with vain longings for more.
The surest way to get a thing in this life is to be prepared for doing without it, to the exclusion even of hope.
I declare I would rather be a kitten and cry, 'Mew!' than live as I see many of my female acquaintances do, tearing each other's characters to pieces, and wearing out their lives in vanity and vexation of spirit.
One feels as if it could never, never be less. And yet all griefs, when there is no bitterness in them, are soothed down by time.
But what are friends? What is a husband, even, compared with one's Mother? Of her love, one is always so sure! It is the only love that nothing - not even misconduct on our part - can take away from us.
Never does one feel oneself so utterly helpless as in trying to speak comfort for great bereavement.
The family code in Egypt is one of the worst family codes in the Arab world. Polygamy. The husband is having absolute power over the family.
The task of organizing human happiness needs the active cooperation of man and woman: it cannot be relegated to one half of the world.
The depth of this conflict, which is more than one hundred years old, requires us to find a way to communicate... so that the residents of the Middle East, Jews and Arabs alike, can live not as if they were forced to live together, but rather destined to live together.
When I was Surgeon General, I spent a lot of time talking to people in living rooms and town halls all across the country, and one of the things I started to notice was that behind many of the stories of addiction, violence, depression and anxiety were threads of loneliness.
Dammit Sir, it's your duty to get married. You can't always be living for pleasure!
The first breath of adultery is the freest; after it, constraints aping marriage develop.
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