You know the old adage: Plant an expectation, reap a disappointment.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
I think it's wonderful when a love story begins with a great deal of romance and affection, passion and excitement, that's how it should be. But I don't necessarily know that it's the wisest thing in the world to expect that it ends there, or that it should, 30 years down the road, still look as it did on the night of your first kiss.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love evolves over time, and one should not expect it to remain the same as it started.
Elizabeth Gilbert suggests that while the initial stages of a love story may be filled with romance, passion, and excitement, it is unrealistic to expect that the relationship will maintain the same intensity indefinitely. She advocates for recognizing the natural progression of love and understanding that it can grow and change in meaningful ways over the years, rather than adhering strictly to the feelings experienced at the beginning.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsGrowthChangeRomance
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a wedding speech to highlight the evolving nature of love.
More from Elizabeth Gilbert
All quotes →Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.
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I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.
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When I tried this morning, after an hour or so of unhappy thinking, to dip back into my meditation, I took a new idea with me: compassion. I asked my heart if it could please infuse my soul with a more generous perspective on my mind's workings. Instead of thinking that I was a failure, could I perhaps accept that I am only a human being--and a normal one, at that?
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And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilling yearnings.
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