Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.
John DonneRead
I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I Did, till we loved? were we not weaned till then? But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of love and suggests a sense of wonder about life before love.
In this quote, John Donne explores the transformative power of love by questioning what life was like before experiencing such deep feelings. He invokes a sense of nostalgia and curiosity about their existence before love, suggesting that their prior experiences may have been trivial or immature compared to the profound connection they now share.
Themes
LoveWonderTransformationNostalgiaConnection
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding toast, one could use this quote to highlight the transformative power of love in a couple's life.
More from John Donne
All quotes →Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right, By these we reach divinity
John DonneRead
All occasions invite His mercies, and all times are His seasons.
John DonneRead
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree, Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us, If lecherous goats, if serpents envious Cannot be damned; alas; why should I be?
John DonneRead
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John DonneRead
I call not that virginity a virtue, which resideth onely in the bodies integrity; much less if it be with a purpose of perpetually keeping it: for then it is a most inhumane vice. - But I call that Virginity a virtue which is willing and desirous to yield it self upon honest and lawfull terms, when just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of body and mind.
John DonneRead
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Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.
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You know I have loved him always. But we are very poor. Who, being loved, is poor? Oh, no one. I hate my riches. They are a burden.
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Happiest is he who expects no happiness from others. Love delights and glorifies in giving, not receiving. So learn to love and give, and not to expect anything from others.
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It is always assumed that Venice is the ideal place for a honeymoon. This is a grave error. To live in Venice or even to visit it means that you fall in love with the city itself. There is nothing left over in your heart for anyone else.
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It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead
In contrast to a dream a reverie cannot be recounted. To be communicated, it must be written, written with emotion and taste, being relived all the more strongly because it is being written down. Here, we are touching the realm of written love. It is going out of fashion, but the benefits remain. There are still souls for whom love is the contact of two poetries, the fusion of two reveries.
Gaston BachelardRead