There rise authors now and then, who seem proof against the mutability of language, because they have rooted themselves in the unchanging principles of human nature.
Washington IrvingRead
Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love endures and transforms, even when it isn't returned.
This quote expresses the idea that love is a powerful force that cannot be diminished or lost simply because it is not reciprocated. Instead, unreciprocated love has a way of returning to the giver, enhancing their own heart in the process by softening it and purifying it through the experience of loving selflessly.
Themes
LoveHeartReciprocationSelflessnessTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding toast to emphasize the enduring nature of love.
More from Washington Irving
All quotes →There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.
Washington IrvingRead
Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.
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The easiest thing to do, whenever you fail, is to put yourself down by blaming your lack of ability for your misfortunes.
Washington IrvingRead
If I can, by a lucky chance, in these uneasy days, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sadness; if I can, how and then, prompt a happier view of human nature, and make my reader more in good humor with his fellow-beings and himself, surely, I shall not have written in vain.
Washington IrvingRead
The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.
Washington IrvingRead
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