Marriage was created not to be a background but to need one. Mine is going to be outstanding. It can't, shan't be the setting - it's going to be the performance, the lively, lovely, glamorous performance, and the world shall be the scenery.
Interpretation
Marriage should be a vibrant and central part of life, not just a backdrop.
In this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes that marriage should not merely serve as a passive backdrop to life but rather as an active and engaging performance. It suggests that one's relationship should be dynamic, exciting, and the focal point of one's existence, with the world as the supporting scenery that enhances the experience.
In practice
A wedding speech that highlights the importance of an exciting marriage.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me.
Southern white people despise the Negro as a race, and will do nothing to aid in his elevation as such; but for certain individuals they have a strong affection, and are helpful to them in many ways.
It is hard, if not impossible, to snub a beautiful woman - they remain beautiful and the snub recoils.
To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.
Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos.
Woman is the dominant sex. Men have to do all sorts of stuff to prove that they are worthy of woman's attention.
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