The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
The saddest thing about ephemerals was that their little lives rarely held time enough for love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ephemeral beings have fleeting lives that prevent them from experiencing lasting love.
This quote reflects on the transient nature of existence, suggesting that for beings whose lives are brief, such as mayflies or certain moments in life, there is scarcely enough time to encounter and cultivate deep connections or love. It evokes a sense of melancholy regarding the brevity of life and the opportunities for emotional fulfillment that often slip away.
Themes
EphemeralLoveLifeTransienceMelancholy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of appreciating relationships, one might say, 'As Robert A. Heinlein wisely noted, the saddest thing about ephemerals was that their little lives rarely held time enough for love.'
More from Robert A. Heinlein
All quotes βAn armed society is a polite society.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.
Robert A. HeinleinRead
Similar quotes
The lover must often say, "I love because I must, because I will it. I love for myself, not for others. I love for the joy it gives me - and incedentally, only - for that joy it gives to others. If they reinforce me it will be good. If they do not, it also will be good, for I will to love."
Leo BuscagliaRead
Love is not a relationship, love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not "in love", one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love β but that is an outcome, a by-product, that is not the source. The source is that one is love.
RajneeshRead
I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love.
Wendell BerryRead
Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
James A. BaldwinRead
If I am perturbed by the reproach and misunderstanding that may follow action taken for the good of souls for whom I must give account; if I cannot commit the matter and go on in peace and in silence, remembering Gethsemane and the cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Amy CarmichaelRead
Cultivating whatever gave pleasure to my senses was always the chief business of my life; I have never found any occupation more important. Feeling that I was born for the sex opposite mine, I have always loved it and done all that I could to make myself loved by it. I have also been extravagantly fond of good food and irresistibly drawn by anything which could excite curiosity.
Giacomo CasanovaRead