For tyme ylost may nought recovered be.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
The life so brief, the art so long in the learning, the attempt so hard, the conquest so sharp, the fearful joy that ever slips away so quickly - by all this I mean love, which so sorely astounds my feeling with its wondrous operation, that when I think upon it I scarce know whether I wake or sleep.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is complex and fleeting, often leaving us in awe and uncertainty.
This quote by Geoffrey Chaucer reflects on the paradoxes of love, highlighting its transient nature and the intense emotions it evokes. He suggests that while the art of loving takes time to master, the experiences of joy and pain associated with love are swift and profound, causing one to question their own reality in the face of such powerful feelings.
Themes
LoveComplexityEmotionTransienceArt
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared at a wedding to highlight the beauty and challenges of love.
More from Geoffrey Chaucer
All quotes →For in their hearts doth Nature stir them so Then people long on pilgrimage to go And palmers to be seeking foreign strands To distant shrines renowned in sundry lands.
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If gold rusts, what then can iron do?
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Thus with hir fader for a certeyn space_x000D_ _x000D_ Dwelleth this flour of wyfly pacience,_x000D_ _x000D_ That neither by hir wordes ne hir face_x000D_ _x000D_ Biforn the folk, ne eek in her absence,_x000D_ _x000D_ Ne shewed she that hir was doon offence.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
Ther nis no werkman, whatsoevere he be, That may bothe werke wel and hastily.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
For oute of olde feldys, as men sey,_x000D_ _x000D_ Comyth al this newe corn from yer to yere;_x000D_ _x000D_ And out of olde bokis, in good fey,_x000D_ _x000D_ Comyth al this newe science that men lere.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead
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I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.
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