A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all. Circumspection and devotion are a contradiction in terms.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker argues that true love requires emotional risk and cannot be strictly controlled.
- In plain terms
- You cannot be a true lover if you are too careful or controlled.
- What can you take from it?
- Love involves risk and cannot be fully managed.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can love be too controlled?
- Is risk necessary for love?
Another view
Caution in love can sometimes protect against harm rather than ruin the relationship.
More from Thomas Hardy
Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.
Permalink to quote #8 You calculated how to be uncalculating, and are natural by art!
Permalink to quote #10 Of course poets have morals and manners of their own, and custom is no argument with them.
Permalink to quote #7
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