Beloved, don't fret that you gave yourself so quickly! Believe me, I don't think badly or wrongly of you. The arrows of Love are various: some scratch us, And our hearts suffer for years from their slow poison. But others strong-feathered with freshly sharpened points Pierce to the marrow, and quickly inflame the blood. In the heroic ages, when gods and goddesses loved, Desire followed a look, and joy followed desire.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Love can wound in many ways, some slowly and painfully, others quickly and intensely, yet both are part of the human experience.
- In plain terms
- Love hurts in different ways, some slow, some fast.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize that love’s pain varies and can be a sign of deep feeling.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do we sometimes value painful love?
- How can we differentiate healthy from harmful love?
Another view
It romanticizes suffering, overlooking healthy boundaries.
More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A world without love would be no world.
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