QuoteProject
The betrothed and accepted lover has lost the wildest charms of his maiden by her acceptance. She was heaven while he pursued her, but she cannot be heaven if she stoops to one such as he!
Ralph Waldo Emerson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Acceptance in love diminishes the allure of desire and pursuit.

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that the thrill and charm of romantic pursuit often resides in the chase, rather than in the actual acceptance of love. When a lover is fully accepted, the mystical allure of the beloved can diminish, as they become more accessible and less of an unattainable ideal, thereby affecting the dynamics of attraction and desire in a relationship.

Themes

LoveDesireAttractionPursuitAcceptance

In practice

Example use cases

A couple might reflect on this quote during a romantic dinner to discuss how their initial attraction has evolved.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The world belongs to the energetic.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead

Similar quotes

It's like my whole life never happened, When I see you, it's as if I never had a thought. I know this dream, it might be crazy, But it's the only one I've got.
Bob DylanRead
I fell in love with music by listening to R&B, & it's the core of who I am.
Beyonce KnowlesRead
Using another as a means of satisfaction and security is not love. Love is never security; love is a state in which there is no desire to be secure; it is a state of vulnerability.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.
Sherman AlexieRead
Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.
William ShakespeareRead
What is love?” “I don’t know.” “Love is the name given to the bond Kemal feels with Füsun whenever they travel along highways or sidewalks; visit houses, gardens, or rooms; or whenever he watches her sitting in tea gardens and restaurants, and at dinner tables.” “Hmmm … that’s a lovely answer,~ But isn’t love what you feel when you can’t see me?” “Under those circumstances, it becomes a terrible obsession, an illness.
Orhan PamukRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.