A mighty pain to love it is,_x000D_ _x000D_ And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;_x000D_ _x000D_ But, of all pains, the greatest pain_x000D_ _x000D_ Is to love, but love in vain.
Abraham CowleyRead
Ah! Wretched and too solitary he who loves not his own company.
Interpretation
One should find joy in their own company, as solitude can lead to a deeper understanding of oneself.
This quote by Abraham Cowley highlights the importance of self-reflection and the ability to enjoy oneβs own company. It suggests that being unable to appreciate one's own solitude can lead to feelings of wretchedness, implying that self-love and acceptance are crucial for a fulfilling life. A person who cannot be content alone might struggle in their relationships with others, as their happiness becomes overly dependent on external validations.
In practice
During a motivational speech about self-acceptance.
A mighty pain to love it is,_x000D_ _x000D_ And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;_x000D_ _x000D_ But, of all pains, the greatest pain_x000D_ _x000D_ Is to love, but love in vain.
May I a small house and large garden have; And a few friends, And many books, both true.
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise,_x000D_ _x000D_ He who defers this work from day to day,_x000D_ _x000D_ Does on a river's bank expecting stay,_x000D_ _x000D_ Till the whole stream, which stopped him, should be gone,_x000D_ _x000D_ That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on.
An act cannot be defined by the end sought by the actor, for an identical system of behaviour may be adjustable to too many different ends without altering its nature.
In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
Any violation of a woman's body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography.
The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.