As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
William ShakespeareRead
The sight of lovers feedeth those in love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love's beauty can inspire and uplift even those who are not in love.
This quote by William Shakespeare suggests that the presence and affection shared between lovers can enhance the emotional state of onlookers. Just as a feast nourishes the body, witnessing the love between others provides a kind of emotional sustenance or joy to those who experience it, regardless of their own romantic status.
Themes
LoveRomanceInspirationAffectionJoy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a wedding speech to highlight the joyful influence of love on everyone present.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes βLove bears it out even to the edge of doom.
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Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
William ShakespeareRead
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
William ShakespeareRead
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
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Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
William ShakespeareRead
Similar quotes
It was love, she thought, love that never clutch its object; but, like the love which mathematicians bear their symbols, or poets their phrases, was meant to be spread over the world and become part of human gain. The world by all means should have shared it, could Mr Bankes have said why that woman pleased him so; why the sight of her reading a fairy tale to her boy had upon him precisely the same effect as the solution of a scientific problem.
Virginia WoolfRead
Some words have to be explicitly uttered, Lenore. Only by actually uttering certain words does one really DO what one SAYS. 'Love' is one of those words, performative words. Some words can literally make things real.
David Foster WallaceRead
When your mind is quiet, you enter into the flow of love, and you just flow from one moment to the next as naturally as breathing. Whatever arises, I embrace it with love in the moment. This is my practice of polishing the mirror to reflect love. In this moment there is just awareness and love. If someone asks me how to get into their heart, I give them this practice: I Am Loving Awareness.
Ram DassRead
My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.
Emily BronteRead
Marry me," he said. "Marry me, Tess. Marry me and be Tessa Herondale. Or be Tessa Gray, or be whatever you wish to call yourself, but marry me and stay with me and never leave me, for I cannot bear another day of my life to go by that does not have you in it.
Cassandra ClareRead
Would you deny your son or your daughter the ecstasy of finding someone to love?
Maya AngelouRead