Source identified
“A boy’s love comes from a full heart; a man’s is more often the result of a full stomach.”
The contrast punctures mature romantic eloquence by suggesting comfort and appetite can masquerade as passion, while youthful awkwardness may reveal more direct feeling.
Source note: The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being in Love”; the narrator contrasts youthful shyness with the polished declarations of older men.
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“When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving others.”
Voice: Fictional character · Lord Illingworth
The line turns romance into a two-stage comedy of self-deception and social deception, exaggerating cynicism to expose how desire distorts judgment.
Source note: A Woman of No Importance, Act III; Lord Illingworth answers Gerald’s question about love with the romance/self-deception epigram. The exact catalog wording is supported by this play, not by The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Source identified
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Voice: Fictional character · Juliet
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.
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“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
Error is treated as ordinary human limitation, while forgiveness requires an additional act of generosity.
Source note: An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.
Source identified
“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.
Source identified
“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Voice: Fictional character · Lysander
Love is described as complicated rather than frictionless, which makes the line a durable reminder against idealizing relationships.
Source note: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1; Lysander says this to Hermia while describing the obstacles that repeatedly frustrate lovers. It is character dialogue inside their threatened relationship.