QuoteProject
She said she knew we were safe with you, and always would be, because once, when she asked you to, you'd given up the thing you most wanted." Archer received this strange communication in silence. His eyes remained unseeingly fixed on the thronged sunlit square below the window. At length he said in a low voice: "She never asked me.
Edith Wharton
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the deep trust and selflessness in a relationship, particularly in the context of sacrifice.

In this quote, Archer reflects on a moment that encapsulates the essence of love and sacrifice. It reveals how true affection often involves giving up one's deepest desires for the sake of another's comfort and security. The acknowledgment that someone felt safe due to this sacrifice highlights the profound impact of love that prioritizes the well-being of others over personal wants. Archer's contemplation of the memory suggests a lingering connection to unfulfilled expectations and the complexities of devotion.

Themes

TrustSacrificeLoveSelflessnessRelationship

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a wedding speech to highlight the sacrifices made in a loving relationship.

More from Edith Wharton

They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Edith WhartonRead
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
Edith WhartonRead
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each other’s angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Edith WhartonRead
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonRead

Similar quotes

You know, for me, the realization that two people should have the right to form a sacred union regardless of their gender was strengthened when I saw a performance of the play The Normal Heart in 1985. After feeling the love those two men had for each other, I dare anybody not to want them to get married by the end.
Barbra StreisandRead
it was not enough to be the last guy she kissed. i wanted to be the last one she loved.
John GreenRead
Love, Love, Love. All you need is love. Love is all you need.
John LennonRead
When that which loves is united to the thing beloved it can rest there; when the burden is laid down it finds rest there. There will be eternal fame also for the inhabitants of that town, constructed and enlarged by him.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
For the crown of our life as it closes Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust; No thorns go as deep as a rose's, And love is more cruel than lust. Time turns the old days to derision, Our loves into corpses or wives; And marriage and death and division Make barren our lives.
Algernon Charles SwinburneRead
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
Henri NouwenRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.