I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
Why does Samuel Butler say, 'Wise men never say what they think of women'? Wise men never say anything else apparently.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the complexities of men's perceptions of women and suggests that wisdom often involves restraint in expressing opinions about them.
Virginia Woolf's quote critiques societal norms around gender and communication. It suggests that wise men, perhaps recognizing the intricacies involved in understanding women, choose silence over expression, implying that openly articulating opinions on women can lead to misunderstanding or conflict. The quote also hints at a broader commentary on gender dynamics, urging a reconsideration of how we communicate about and understand each other.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be a great conversation starter at a gender studies seminar.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes βDeath is woven in with the violets,β said Louis. βDeath and again death.β)
He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
Similar quotes
frustration, complication and misery are available in abundance, but so is God's grace.
Truly novel inventions emerge only in one's youth. Later one becomes ever more experienced, famous-and foolish.
Pray thee, spare, thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.
He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart.
To accept oneβs past β oneβs history β is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought.
How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.