The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.
Dorothy was in that state human beings passed through at the beginning of a love affair, in which they desire to say anything and everything to the beloved, to the alter ego, before they have learned what the real Other can and can't understand, can and can't accept.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote describes the initial phase of a love affair where both individuals are eager to share everything with each other without fully understanding how much can be accepted.
In this quote, A. S. Byatt highlights the excitement and vulnerability that accompany the early stages of romantic relationships. It captures the intensity of emotions and the eagerness to connect on a deep level, while also acknowledging the eventual reality that comes with truly knowing another person—understanding their limits, preferences, and capacity for acceptance. This phase is often filled with idealism, as individuals express their innermost thoughts and feelings in the hopes of forging a meaningful bond.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a romantic movie to depict the early stages of a relationship.
More from A. S. Byatt
All quotes →It's because I'm a feminist that I can't stand women limiting other women's imaginations. It really makes me angry.
Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.
Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.
Only write to me, write to me, I love to see the hop and skip and sudden starts of your ink.
I am a creature of my pen. My pen is the best of me.
Similar quotes
She wasn't much to look at but she was something to think about.
We cannot love something solely because it has been ignored. It must also be worthy of our attention.
Life's a game made for everyone, and love is the prize.
The field of quantum possibility, in which love has opened doors otherwise unimaginable, is our soul's true habitat. The world of fear and limitation is not our home, and who among us is not profoundly weary of hanging out where we do not belong.
Of the love or hatred God has for the English, I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be thrown out of France, except those who die there.
As to the deceit perpetrated upon women, let it pass, for, when love is in the way, men and women as a general rule dupe each other.