I hope, if you should live to grow up, you will endeavour to be very useful and not spend all your time in pleasing yourself.
Elizabeth FryRead
The loveliest, sweetest flower that bloomed in paradise, and the first that died, has rarely blossomed since on mortal soil. It is so frail, so delicate, a thing, it is gone if it but look upon itself; and she who ventures to esteem it hers proves by that single thought she has it not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the ephemeral nature of beauty and love, suggesting that true appreciation can lessen its value.
Elizabeth Fry's quote captures the fragility of beautiful things, especially love, implying that their rarity and delicacy make them incredibly precious. It conveys a profound truth about how possessing something as beautiful as love can alter its value, as true admiration may come with the realization of its unattainable nature, leading to a deeper sense of loss and longing.
Themes
LoveBeautyFragilityLossAppreciation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a wedding ceremony to highlight the delicate nature of love.
More from Elizabeth Fry
All quotes βSimilar quotes
One half of me is yours, the other half is yours, Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, And so all yours.
William ShakespeareRead
Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.
Hannah MoreRead
Ask nothing more of me sweet; All I can give you I give; Heart of my heart were it more, More would be laid at your feet.
Algernon Charles SwinburneRead
Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.
Milan KunderaRead
And isn't the whole world yours? For how often you set it on fire with your love and saw it blaze and burn up and secretly replaced it with another world while everyone slept. You felt in such complete harmony with God, when every morning you asked him for a new earth, so that all the ones he had made could have their turn. You thought it would be shabby to save them and repair them; you used them up and held out your hands, again and again, for more world. For your love was equal to everything.
Rainer Maria RilkeRead