For was that all, she thought bleakly, that love ever was? Something that saved one from loneliness? A sort of insurance policy against not counting?
Sarah WatersRead
How will a person know, Selina, when the soul that has the affinity with hers is near it?" She answered, "She will know. Does she look for air, before she breathes it? This love will be guided to her; and when it comes, she will know. And she will do anything to keep that love about her, then. Because to lose it will be like a death to her.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True love creates a deep, instinctual recognition between souls.
In this quote, Sarah Waters explores the idea that individuals with a deep soul connection will instinctively recognize each other, much like a person instinctively seeks air before breathing. This love is portrayed as essential for one’s existence, to the extent that losing it would feel equivalent to death, emphasizing the profound importance of love in our lives.
Themes
LoveSoulConnectionRecognitionLoss
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a wedding speech to articulate the profound nature of true love.
More from Sarah Waters
All quotes →I felt that thread that had come between us, tugging, tugging at my heart - so hard, it hurt me. A hundred times I almost rose, almost went in to her; a hundred times I thought, Go to her! Why are you waiting? Go back to her side! But every time, I thought of what would happen if I did. I knew that I couldn't lie beside her, without wanting to touch her. I couldn't have felt her breath upon my mouth, without wanting to kiss her. And I couldn't have kissed her, without wanting to save her.
Sarah WatersRead
She scissored the curls away, and - toms, grow easily sentimental over their haircuts, but I remember this sensation very vividly - it was not like she was cutting hair, it was as if I had a pair of wings beneath my shoulder-blades, that the flesh had all grown over, and she was slicing free.
Sarah WatersRead
She supposed that houses, after all - like the lives that were lived in them - were mostly made of space. It was the spaces, in fact, which counted, rather than the bricks.
Sarah WatersRead
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