As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
Love is like a child, That longs for everything it can come by
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is characterized by a child's innocence and desire for everything, reflecting its pure and unselfish nature.
In this quote, Shakespeare likens love to a child, emphasizing its innate curiosity and unrestrained yearning for experiences and feelings. Just as a child seeks to explore and embrace all that comes its way, love embodies a similar longing for connection, affection, and all that life has to offer. This comparison highlights the simplicity, purity, and often ungratified desires that accompany love, suggesting that it is ever-evolving and insatiable in its pursuit of emotional richness.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a wedding toast to highlight the purity and innocence of love.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes βLove bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
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He who would love much has also much to suffer.
A charity which knows only how to give money is not yet Christian love. You will be free of guilt only when you also give your time, your energy, and your resourcefulness to help end such abuses for good, and when you allow nothing that lies hidden in the storehouse of your Christian religion to remain unused against the cancer that is destroying the vitality of our society in such alarming ways.
Passion such as hers is all consent, asking little in return. I had merely to enter a room where she was to see her face take on that peaceful expression of one who is resting in bed. If I touched her, I had the impression that all the blood in her veins was turning to honey.
You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.