QuoteProject
A man so painfully in love is capable of self-torture beyond belief.
John Steinbeck
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Love can lead to intense emotional suffering.

This quote by John Steinbeck captures the notion that profound love can bring about deep emotional pain. The intensity of such feelings can lead individuals to experience self-inflicted suffering, illustrating the complex and often tumultuous nature of love that can blur the lines between joy and anguish.

Themes

LovePainEmotionSufferingIntensity

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about relationships, one might quote this to highlight the depths of emotional experiences.

More from John Steinbeck

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
John SteinbeckRead
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
John SteinbeckRead
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
John SteinbeckRead
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
John SteinbeckRead

Similar quotes

I think every human being knows how to hate. Because if they didn't know how to hate how to hate they wouldn't know how to love.
Marilyn MonroeRead
When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born. And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure.
Khalil GibranRead
Yes, she is the fruit that will Sustain me and yes, she brings A rain that I know can chill But it is a rain so sweet and sings A song my soul insists That I follow, if I would exist As more than I have ever, ever been If my mother calls it evil, then I embrace the sin
Walter Dean MyersRead
The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.
Morrie SchwartzRead
Love is easy, and I love writing. You can't resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you're in love.
Ray BradburyRead
She smiled at him, making sure that the smile gathered up everything inside her and directed it toward him, making him a profound promise of herself for so little, for the beat of a response, the assurance of a complimentary vibration in him.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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