Everybody must be managed. Queens must be managed. Kings must be managed, for men want managing almost as much as women, and that's saying a good deal.
Thomas HardyRead
Sometimes a woman's love of being loved gets the better of her conscience, and though she is agonized at the thought of treating a man cruelly, she encourages him to love her while she doesn't love him at all. Then, when she sees him suffering, her remorse sets in, and she does what she can to repair the wrong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the complexity of love and the emotional turmoil that can arise when one person loves and the other does not.
In this quote, Thomas Hardy explores the intricate dynamics of love, particularly focusing on a woman's conflicting emotions when she finds herself in a relationship where she does not love the man who loves her. It highlights the tension between her desire to be loved and the moral implications of encouraging feelings in someone when she does not reciprocate them. This creates a cycle of guilt and remorse as she witnesses the pain her lack of genuine affection causes, leading her to attempt to make amends for her actions.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsGuiltConsciencePain
In practice
Example use cases
During a relationship counseling session, this quote can be utilized to discuss the emotional responsibilities involved in love.
More from Thomas Hardy
All quotes →Because what's the use of learning that I am one of a long row only - finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me, and to know that I shall only act her part; making me sad, that's all. The best is not to remember your nature and your past doings have been just like thousands' and thousands', and that your coming life and doings'll be like thousands' and thousands'.
Thomas HardyRead
But nothing is more insidious than the evolution of wishes from mere fancies, and of wants from mere wishes.
Thomas HardyRead
I wish I had never been born--there or anywhere else.
Thomas HardyRead
Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch her—doubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.
Thomas HardyRead
The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven't they? -that is, seem as if they had. And the river says,-'Why do ye trouble me with your looks?' And you seem to see numbers of to-morrows just all in a line, the first of them the biggest and clearest, the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand further away; but they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said, 'I'm coming! Beware of me! Beware of me!
Thomas HardyRead
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