Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die.
Robert BurnsRead
But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever. Had we never lou'd sae kindly, Had we never lou'd sae blindly, Never met - or never parted - We had ne'er been broken hearted
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the deep and enduring nature of love, suggesting that true love arises from genuine connection.
In this quote by Robert Burns, the speaker reflects on the paradox of love; that to see someone is to fall in love with them, and that this love can lead to lasting devotion. It also highlights the pain that can come from love, as the speaker contemplates how their lives would have been different if they had never experienced love at all—implying that the joys of love are intertwined with the sorrows that can follow, such as heartbreak and separation.
Themes
LoveHeartbreakDevotionLossExperience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be perfect to share at a wedding to emphasize the beauty of love.
More from Robert Burns
All quotes →I'm truly sorry man's dominion has broken Nature's social union.
Robert BurnsRead
Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.
Robert BurnsRead
All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.
Robert BurnsRead
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min?
Robert BurnsRead
Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase 'Auld Lang Syne' exceedingly expressive? I shall give you the verses on the other sheet. The words of 'Auld Lang Syne' are good, but the music is an old air, the rudiments of the modern tune of that name. ... Dare to be honest and fear no labor. ... Opera is where a man gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings. ... Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure thrill the deepest notes of woe. ... Critics! Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame.
Robert BurnsRead
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I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I Did, till we loved? were we not weaned till then? But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
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My wife, my Mary, goes to her sleep the way you would close the door of a closet. So many times I have watched her with envy. Her lovely body squirms a moment as though she fitted herself into a cocoon. She sighs once and at the end of it her eyes close and her lips, untroubled, fall into that wise and remote smile of the Ancient Greek gods. She smiles all night in her sleep, her breath purrs in her throat, not a snore, a kitten's purr... She loves to sleep and sleep welcomes her.
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He, too, stood looking at her for a moment - and it seemed to her that it was not a look of greeting after an absence, but the look of someone who had thought of her every day of that year. She could not be certain, it was only an instant, so brief that just as she caught it, he was turning.
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If you don't love me, it does not matter, anyway I can love for both of us.
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