As for the duties of marital love that some people consider injured by absence, I do not believe it. On the contrary, it is a relationship that is readily cooled by too continual association, and harmed by assiduity. Every strange woman seems to us an attractive woman. And every man feels by experience that seeing one another continually cannot match the pleasure of parting and being together again at intervals.
[Quant aux devoirs de l’amitié maritale, qu’on pense estre interessez par cette absence: je ne le crois pas. Au rebours, c’est une intelligence, qui se refroidit volontiers par une trop continuelle assistance, & que l’assiduité blesse. Toute femme estrangere nous semble honneste femme: Et chacun sent par experience, que la continuation de se voir, ne peut representer le plaisir que lon sent à se desprendre, & reprendre à secousses.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 9 (3.9), “Of Vanity [De la vanité]” (1587) [tr. Frame (1943)]
(Source)
First appeared in the second (1588) edition. See also Propertius (c. 20 BC), La Rochefoucauld (1665), Ouida (1878).
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Concerning dueties of wedlocke-friendship, which some happily imagine to be interressed or prejudiced by the husbands absence, I beleeve it not. Contrariwise, it is a kinde of intelligence, that easily growes colde by an over continuall assistance, and decayeth by assiduitie; for, to stand still at racke and manger breedeth a saciety. Every strange woman seemeth to us an honest woman: And all feele by experience, that a continuall seeing one another, can not possibly represent the pleasure, men take by parting and meeting againe.
[tr. Florio (1603)]As to the Duties of Conjugal Friendship, that some think to be violated by the absence, I am quite of another Opinion; it is on the contrary an Intelligence that easily cools by a too frequent and assiduous Practice. Every strange Woman appears graceful, and every one finds by Experience, that being continually together is not so pleasing, as to part for a time, and meet again.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]As to the duties of conjugal friendship, that some think to be impaired by these absences, I am quite of another opinion. It is, on the contrary, an intelligence that easily cools by a too frequent and assiduous companionship. Every strange woman appears charming, and we all find by experience that being continually together is not so pleasing as to part for a time and meet again.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]As for the duties of conjugal friendship, which are thought to be wronged by such absences, I do not believe so; on the contrary, it is an intercourse which easily grows cool with too continuous companionship and which assiduity injures. Every woman who is a strange seems to us a worthy woman; and we all know by experience that continually being together cannot equal the pleasure that we feel in parting and meeting by turns.
[tr. Ives (1925)]As for the duties of conjugal love which are thought to be infringed by such absences, I do not believe that they are. On the contrary: such intercourse can easily be cooled by too continuous a presence and impaired by assiduity: every other woman seems charming then! Everyone knows that seeing each other all the time cannot provide the same pleasure as is given by alternately going away and coming together.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
Quotations about:
reunion
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
FIRST WITCH: When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?SECOND WITCH: When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.THIRD WITCH: That will be ere the set of sun.
FIRST WITCH: Where’s the place?
SECOND WITCH: Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH: There to meet with Macbeth.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 1ff (1.1.1-8) (1606)
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We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.
Elizabeth II (b. 1926) Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms
Address to the Nation (5 Apr 2020)
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On the COVID-19 Pandemic. The last line is an allusion to the famous WWII song.
We’ll meet again,
Don’t know where,
Don’t know when,
But I know we’ll meet again
Some sunny day.Ross Parker (1914-1974) English pianist, composer, lyricist, actor [Albert Rostron Parker]
“We’ll Meet Again” (1939) [with Hughie Charles]
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We spake of many a vanished scene,
Of what we once had thought and said,
Of what had been, and might have been,
And who was changed, and who was dead;
And all that fills the hearts of friends,
When first they feel, with secret pain,
Their lives thenceforth have separate ends,
And never can be one again.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“The Fire of Drift-Wood”, l. 13 in The Seaside and the Fireside (1850)
I met my old lover on the street today
She seemed so glad to see me; I just smiled
And we talked about the old times, and drank ourselves some beers
Still crazy after all these years.Paul Simon (b. 1941) American musician, singer-songwriter.
“Still Crazy After All These Years” (1975)
Don’t be dismayed at good-byes.
A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.
And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes,
is certain for those who are friends.Richard Bach (b. 1936) American writer
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, ch. 18, epigraph (1977)
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