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By in love she meant the acuteness of the heart at the sudden sight of a particular person or the way over a couple of years of interested friendship one is suddenly stunned by the lungs' longing for more and more breath in the presence of that friend

— Grace Paley Midrash on happiness (1990)

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Love

More quotes by Grace Paley

With a few grasping, kind words and a modern gimmick, she hoped to breathe eternity into a mortal matter, love.

The Little Disturbances of Man (1959)

I brought up lonesomeness again, and not being understood at all except by some women everybody hated.

The Little Disturbances of Man (1959)

Plot, the absolute line between two points which I've always despised. Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.

Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974)

For happiness, she also required work to do in this world and bread on the table.

Midrash on happiness (1990)

It is still hard to believe that a man who sends out the Ten Commandments every year for a Christmas card can be so easy buttoning and unbuttoning.

The Little Disturbances of Man (1959)

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Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595)

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Not for the body, but for the heart; companion and company are needed.

Sanu Sharma

Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.

Alexander Pope

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Grace Paley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.