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Too late came I to love you, O Beauty both so ancient and so new! Too late came I to love you - and behold you were with me all the time . . .
Saint Augustine
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote expresses regret for realizing the importance of love and beauty later in life.

Saint Augustine reflects on his late acknowledgment of love, addressing a timeless beauty that he recognizes was always present in his life. His words convey a sense of longing and regret for not having embraced this beauty sooner, suggesting that true understanding and appreciation often come with time and experience.

Themes

LoveBeautyRegretAppreciationUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

During a wedding speech to emphasize the importance of recognizing love in our lives.

More from Saint Augustine

The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
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There is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
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Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.
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Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart.
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Whatever skills I have acquired, whatever gifts I have been given, I place them at Your service.
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Everyone who observes himself doubting observes a truth, and about that which he observes he is certain; therefore he is certain about a truth. Everyone therefore who doubts whether truth exists has in himself a truth on which not to doubt.... Hence one who can doubt at all ought not to doubt the existence of truth.
Saint AugustineRead

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The betrothed and accepted lover has lost the wildest charms of his maiden by her acceptance. She was heaven while he pursued her, but she cannot be heaven if she stoops to one such as he!
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But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old.
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grow old with me. the best is yet to be. the last of life for which the first was made.
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