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A blaze of love and extinction, was better than a lantern glimmer of the same which should last long years.
Thomas Hardy
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Intense love, even if short-lived, is preferable to a faint and enduring love.

In this quote, Thomas Hardy expresses the idea that a passionate and consuming love, despite its impermanence, holds more value than a weak, flickering love that drags on for many years. The metaphor of a 'blaze' and a 'lantern' contrasts the vibrancy of genuine emotions against the dullness of prolonged mediocrity, suggesting that depth of feeling surpasses longevity in relationships.

Themes

LovePassionIntensityRelationshipsEmotion

In practice

Example use cases

During a wedding speech, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of passionate love.

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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.
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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 herβ€”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.
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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!
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