I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.
Once the love bug wears off, as it inevitably does, you are shocked to discover that you really didn't know the object of your affections at all. We know this to be so, even as we repeat the same mistake over and over and over.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The initial excitement of love can blind us to the true nature of our partners.
This quote highlights the fleeting nature of romantic infatuation and the tendency for people to overlook the true character of their partners during the early stages of a relationship. Bette Davis points out that the 'love bug' can create an illusion that often fades, revealing a deeper reality that might be disappointing or surprising. It reflects on human behavior in relationships, where the cycle of falling in love and then later realizing the truth about the person is often repeated.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a relationship seminar discussing common pitfalls, this quote can emphasize the importance of understanding one's partner fully.
More from Bette Davis
All quotes βI have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable... I suppose I'm larger than life.
Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.
Today everyone is a star - they're all billed as 'starring' or 'also starring'. In my day, we earned that recognition.
If everybody likes you, you're pretty dull.
You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.
Similar quotes
We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye.
Don't tell me that [broken heartstrings] hurt less than a broken bone, that an ingrown life is something surgeons can cut away, that there's no way for it to metastasize - it does.
Access to public facilities like bathrooms is important for transgender people. But the fight for transgender rights does not begin and end at the bathroom door.
When people are speaking, they require our undivided attention. We focus on them; we listen very carefully. We listen to the spoken words and the unspoken messages. This means looking directly at the person, eyes connected; we forget we have a watch, just focusing for that moment on that person.
It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.
It was a strange thing, to still be in love with your wife and to not know if you liked her. What would happen when this was all over? Could you forgive someone if she hurt you and the people you love, if she truly believed she was only trying to help? I had filed for divorce, but that wasn't what I really wanted. What I really wanted was for all of us to go back two years, and start over. Had I ever really told her that?