Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
No, make me mistress to the man I love; If there be yet another name more free More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!
Interpretation
The speaker desires a deep, unconditional relationship with the one they love, beyond societal labels.
In this quote, the speaker expresses a longing for an intimate bond with their beloved that transcends conventional titles or roles. The plea to be made a 'mistress' or given an even 'more fond' name signifies a desire for freedom and emotional connection in their relationship, highlighting the complexity and depth of romantic love.
In practice
This quote could be used in a romantic letter to express deep feelings for a partner.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
You've been in love with someone for a decade - someone who barely knows you're alive. You've done everything, tried everything to make this person see that you're a valuable, estimable person, and that your love is worth something. Then one day you open the paper and glance at the Personals column, and there you see that your loved one has placed an ad... seeking someone worthwhile to love and be loved by.
How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.
I saw within Its depth how It conceives_x000D_ _x000D_ All things in a single volume bound by Love_x000D_ _x000D_ of which the universe is the scattered leaves.
And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.
Love, love, love β all the wretched cant of it, masking egotism, lust, masochism, fantasy under a mythology of sentimental postures, a welter of self-induced miseries and joys, blinding and masking the essential personalities in the frozen gestures of courtship, in the kissing and the dating and the desire, the compliments and the quarrels which vivify its barrenness.
I became aware that the invincible power that has moved the world is unrequited, not happy, love.
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