Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
The biggest of all differences in this world is between the ones that had or have pleasure in love and those that haven't and hadn't any pleasure in love, but just watched with sick envy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the profound impact of experiencing love versus merely observing it with jealousy.
Tennessee Williams highlights the stark contrast between those who have experienced the joy and fulfillment of love and those who have not, suggesting that the latter group may live in a state of resentment and longing. This sentiment paints love as a vital source of happiness, shaping one’s emotional landscape and influencing their perception of life.
Themes
LovePleasureEnvyHappinessRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about relationships, one might say, 'As Tennessee Williams stated, the biggest of all differences is between those who experience love and those who only envy it.'
More from Tennessee Williams
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Success and failure are equally disastrous.
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The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
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Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
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Similar quotes
I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
It was there, in particular, that I confirmed the truth that love, which we cry up as the source of our pleasures, is nothing more than an excuse for them.
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To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Oscar WildeRead
In school, they would tell you that life wouldn’t come to you; you had to go out and make it your own. But when it came to love, the message for girls seemed to be this: Don’t. Don’t go after what you want. Wait. Wait to be chosen, as if only in the eye of another could one truly find value. The message was confusing and infuriating. It was a shell game with no actual pea under the rapidly moving cups.
Libba BrayRead
The sun's gone dim, and the moon's gone black. For I loved him, and he didn't love back.
Dorothy ParkerRead
I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead