Perhaps all romance is like that; not a contract between equal parties but an explosion of dreams and desires that can find no outlet in everyday life. Only a drama will do and while the fireworks last the sky is a different colour.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that romance transcends ordinary life and becomes a dramatic expression of unfulfilled dreams and desires.
Jeanette Winterson reflects on the nature of romance, portraying it as an intense experience that is far from a mere agreement between two people. Instead, she likens it to a spectacular explosion of aspirations and emotions that surface when individuals seek to escape their daily realities. In these moments, romantic love transforms ordinary life, making everything feel vibrant and extraordinary, akin to colorful fireworks lighting up the sky.
In practice
During a wedding toast, to illustrate the magic of love.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
I'm cool with failing so long as I know that there are people around me that love me unconditionally.
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.
When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love.
As long as the "I" is there, love cannot be. All that we call love is only desire, longing, passion and attachment; as long as ego is there, all these bind one.
There are as many loves as there are hearts.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.