That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Paul ValeryRead
It would be impossible to "love" anyone or anything one knew completely. Love is directed towards what lies hidden in its object.
Interpretation
Love thrives on mystery and the unknown aspects of others.
In this quote, Paul Valery suggests that true love requires an element of the unknown, as complete knowledge of someone would eliminate the depth and allure that love often entails. Love is driven by the curiosity and fascination with what is hidden about a person or object, fostering a deeper connection that goes beyond mere understanding.
In practice
In a romantic speech about the beauty of love and relationships.
That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
Oh, hasten not this loving act, Rapture where self and not-self meet: My life has been the awaiting you, Your footfall was my own heart's beat.
The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.
The world acquires value only through its extremes and endures only through moderation; extremists make the world great, the moderates give it stability.
You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being helpless prey to impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, drops him, promises and betrays, and -crowning injury- inflicts on him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself.
There are some people who would never have fallen in love if they had not heard there was such a thing.
I say you are a coward and you are; I think you hunt only to reassure yourself that you are not what you are: the weakest thing to ever walk the Earth. He will come for me and then we will be gone, and you will be helpless for all your hunting, because Westley and I are joined by the bond of love and you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords.
Only do not forget, if I wake up crying it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands.
The choice that frees or imprisons us is the choice of love or fear. Love liberates. Fear imprisons.
You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;_x000D_ _x000D_ But yet you draw not iron, for my heart_x000D_ _x000D_ Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,_x000D_ _x000D_ And I shall have no power to follow you.
Love as distinct from "being in love" is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.