One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.
Honore De BalzacRead
Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster that devours everything: familiarity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Marriage requires ongoing effort to combat the dangers of becoming too familiar with one another.
In this quote, Honore De Balzac highlights the challenge that familiarity poses to marriage. Over time, partners might take each other for granted, leading to a decline in passion and appreciation. Thus, it is essential for couples to continuously nurture their relationship and keep the spark alive to prevent monotony and discontent from creeping in.
Themes
MarriageFamiliarityRelationshipCommitmentAppreciation
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding speech, to remind couples to keep the romance alive.
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Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls?
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However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates his gestures, and colors his voice. The stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere. Goriot's voice and gesture had at this moment the power of communication that characterizes the great actor. Are not our finer feelings the poems of the human will?
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Love is a religion, and its rituals cost more than those of other religions. It goes by quickly and, like a street urchin, it likes to mark its passage by a trail of devastation.
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Imaginative, sanguine men will never recognize that in negotiations the most dangerous moment of all is when everything is moving according to their wishes.
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