What does this quote mean?

“And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

Separation can expose the depth of attachment that ordinary familiarity concealed, making loss a painful measure of how much the bond mattered.

Source note: The Prophet, “On Love.”

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

The phrase holds affection and pain together: separation hurts precisely because the relationship being left is valued.

Source note: Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2; Juliet speaks as the lovers part for the night.

“For grief indeed is love and grief beside.”

The sonnet treats grief as attachment plus the pain attached to what has been lost, refusing to separate sorrow cleanly from love.

Source note: Sonnets from the Portuguese, Sonnet XXXV; Project Gutenberg #2002. The statement is part of an intimate love sonnet shaped by earlier bereavements.

“To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also.”

Paul makes forgiveness reciprocal and communal, showing that restoration can require people to align their response rather than preserve separate grievances.

Source note: 2 Corinthians 2:10, King James Version; Paul continues instructions about forgiving and receiving a person who had caused sorrow.

“The loss of a friend is the greatest of losses.”

The maxim treats friendship as a form of value that cannot be measured like property because losing the person also removes shared history and mutual presence.

Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 37, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).

“Trust love even if it brings sorrow. Do not close up your heart.”

The advice refuses to make sorrow a reason for emotional withdrawal, presenting openness to love as worthwhile even when attachment can also bring pain.

Source note: The Gardener, poem 27; Project Gutenberg #6686. This is dialogue within a lyric sequence, and the surrounding exchange explicitly pairs love with tears and enduring sorrow.