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).
William ShakespeareRead
Love is a wonderful, terrible thing
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love is both beautiful and painful.
This quote captures the complex nature of love, highlighting how it can bring immense joy and fulfillment, yet also lead to heartache and suffering. Shakespeare suggests that love's duality is what makes it both wonderful and terrible, embodying the highs and lows of human emotion.
Themes
LoveEmotionPainJoyPassion
In practice
Example use cases
A wedding speech where the dual nature of love is celebrated.
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Then I think of all the tricks, all the minutes all the hours and days and weeks and months and years waiting for me. All of it without them. And I can't breathe then, like someone's stepping on my heart, Laila. So weak I just want to collapse somewhere.
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If love wants you; if you've been melted down to stars, you will love with lungs and gills; with feathers and scales; with warm blood and cold.
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sometimes I think I've got this hard kernel in my heart, and nothing much can get inside it. I doubt if I can really love anybody.
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When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.
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