Don't just live the length of your life - live the width of it as well.
Love is the most important thing in our lives, a passion for which we would fight or die, and yet we're reluctant to linger over its names. Without a supple vocabulary, we can't even talk or think about it directly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is a vital aspect of human life that demands attention and expression, yet we often struggle to articulate it.
In this quote, Diane Ackerman emphasizes the significance of love in our lives, depicting it as a powerful force for which many are willing to make great sacrifices. She suggests that despite its profound importance, people often find it challenging to discuss love openly and meaningfully due to a lack of appropriate language. This tension between the depth of our feelings and our ability to express them can hinder our understanding and appreciation of love.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding ceremony, one could quote this to highlight the significance of love in relationships.
More from Diane Ackerman
All quotes →We try to exile ourselves more and more from nature - not always consciously: We build houses; we dismiss nature; nature has to be outside, because we're inside. God forbid something like a cockroach comes inside, or some dust.
We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as necessary physical and spiritual companions. Technological nature can't completely satisfy that yearning.
Because IQ tests favor memory skills and logic, overlooking artistic creativity, insight, resiliency, emotional reserves, sensory gifts, and life experience, they can't really predict success, let alone satisfaction.
American writer_x000D_ _x000D_ 1803-1882_x000D_ _x000D_ Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may unfold.
Similar quotes
Dear young people, don't be afraid to marry. A faithful and fruitful marriage will bring you happiness.
Agape's object is always the concrete individual, not some abstraction called humanity. Love of humanity is easy because humanity does not surprise you with inconvenient demands. You never find humanity on your doorstep, stinking and begging.
Darkness is merely the absence of light, and fear is merely the absence of love. If we want to be rid of fear, we cannot fight it but must replace it with love.
Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.
I regard as a mortal sin not only the lying of the senses in matters of love, but also the illusion which the senses seek to create where love is only partial. I say, I believe, that one must love with all of one's being, or else live, come what may, a life of complete chastity.
I will remember the kisses, our lips raw with love, and how you gave me everything you had and how I offered you what was left of me.