When I'm with you, I don't breathe quite right.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the intense and consuming nature of love, suggesting that it can alter one's normal state of being.
In this quote, F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys the powerful effect that being with a loved one has on a person. It suggests that love is so intense that it can disrupt the ordinary rhythms of life, implying that love is both exhilarating and overwhelming, as if one's very existence is altered in the presence of that special someone.
In practice
This quote could be used in a romantic letter to express deep feelings for a partner.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
May Thy Love shine forever on the sanctuary of my devotion. And may I be able to awaken Thy love in all hearts.
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love?' These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will be many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.
There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.
Fly me up to where you are beyond the distant star. I wish upon tonight to see you smile, if only for a while to know you're there. A breath away's not far to where you are.
To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious.
Whether we love, or close our hearts to love, is a mental choice we make, every moment of every day.
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