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
Wooing, wedding, and repenting is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace: the first suit is hot and hasty like a Scotch jig--and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly modest, as a measure, full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance and with his bad legs falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster, till he sink into his grave.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The journey of love involves passionate beginnings, solemn commitment, and eventual regret.
In this quote, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of dance styles to illustrate the stages of romantic relationships: the initial excitement and passion of wooing, the formal and serious nature of marriage, and the regret that often follows as life progresses. Each stage reflects a different emotional state and contributes to the overall cycle of love and loss, suggesting that while love can begin with fervor, it may ultimately lead to sorrow and reflection.
Themes
LoveRomanceRegretCommitmentRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a wedding speech to reflect on the journey of love.
More from William Shakespeare
All quotes βLove bears it out even to the edge of doom.
William ShakespeareRead
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!
William ShakespeareRead
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
William ShakespeareRead
Similar quotes
The truth is that love smashes into your life like an ice floe, and even if your heart is built like the Titanic you go down.
Jeanette WintersonRead
Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time.
Maya AngelouRead
Just like every person who works for Dortmund is a fan of the club, it was the same at Mainz. When I was a player there, we had 800 supporters on rainy Saturday afternoons, and if we died, no one would notice or come to our funeral. But we loved the club, and we have this same feeling at Dortmund.
Jurgen KloppRead
To Helen Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore To his own native shore. On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome. Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand, Ah! Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy Land!
Edgar Allan PoeRead
True love stories never have endings.
Richard BachRead
Never love a wild thing...If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.
Truman CapoteRead