The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
James JoyceRead
She respected her husband in the same way as she respected the General Post Office, as something large, secure and fixed: and though she knew the small number of his talents she appreciated his abstract value as a male.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights a woman's respect for her husband as a stable figure, despite recognizing his limited talents.
In this quote, James Joyce conveys the idea of respect within a marital relationship, comparing the husband's presence to a public institution known for stability and security. The woman's appreciation for her husband is portrayed as detached, acknowledging his value not for his talents but for the role he plays in her life, illustrating a complex dynamic of admiration mixed with recognition of limitations.
Themes
RespectMarriageStabilityRelationshipsValue
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding speech, one might reference this quote to emphasize the foundation of mutual respect in a successful marriage.
More from James Joyce
All quotes →I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
James JoyceRead
If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.
James JoyceRead
Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs about the end of love; Lay aside sadness and sing How love that passes is enough. Sing about the long deep sleep Of lovers that are dead, and how In the grave all love shall sleep: Love is aweary now.
James JoyceRead
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
James JoyceRead
The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside.
James JoyceRead
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If you can find your footing between two cultures, sometimes you can have the best of both worlds.
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Then a strange thing happened. She turned to him and smiled, and as he saw her smile every rag of anger and hurt vanity dropped from him — as though his very moods were but the outer ripples of her own, as though emotion rose no longer in his breast unless she saw fit to pull an omnipotent controlling thread.
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