QuoteProject
Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True love requires deep emotional connection, not just superficial attraction.

This quote emphasizes that a man's pursuit of a woman's love should not be merely to possess her, but to genuinely engage her heart and emotions. Hawthorne warns that failing to kindle her true passions may lead to regret, as she might find fulfillment elsewhere, leaving him with only the facade of happiness.

Themes

LovePassionEmotionsHeartRelationships

In practice

Example use cases

In a wedding speech to highlight the importance of emotional connection in marriage.

More from Nathaniel Hawthorne

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
But, all this while, I was giving myself very unnecessary alarm. Providence had mediated better things for me than I could possibly imagine for myself.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead

Similar quotes

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead
To all, I would say how mistaken they are when they think that they stop falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love...
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
I will say that as I get older and calmer and quieter in my own self, the one quality in a woman that I find more and more attractive is kindness. A sense of adventure and humor is important too, but I truly find kindness and consideration for others to be the most attractive thing in anyone.
Colin FarrellRead
A house without a cat is like a day without sunshine, a pie without fromage, a dinner without wine.
Julia ChildRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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