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Source identified
The course of true love never did run smooth.
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“The course of true love never did run smooth.”

William Shakespeare

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Source
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Date
c. 1595
Local voice
Fictional character · Lysander
Meaning

Meaning of “The course of true love never did run…”

Love is described as complicated rather than frictionless, which makes the line a durable reminder against idealizing relationships.

Source context

Where does it come from?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene 1; Lysander says this to Hermia while describing the obstacles that repeatedly frustrate lovers. Verified in the scan-backed 1918 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Willard Higley Durham; direct evidence resolves to the reviewed Act I transcription.

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Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

Lysander says this to Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 1.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

DeepHard TimesLovePatienceRelationshipShortStrengthTrustBroken HeartWords of Wisdom: Practical & Philosophical Counsel
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Source identified
For grief indeed is love and grief beside.
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“For grief indeed is love and grief beside.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning · Sonnets from the Portuguese · 1850
Meaning & context

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

Source details

Sonnets from the Portuguese, Sonnet XXXV, Project Gutenberg #2002. “For grief indeed is love and grief beside” occurs as the lyric speaker asks whether a new beloved can fill a place still occupied by family memory and bereavement. It remains intimate Victorian love poetry, not a clinical model or universal definition of grief.

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You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.
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“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.”

Jane Austen · Persuasion · 1818
Voice: Fictional character · Captain Frederick Wentworth (letter)
Meaning & context

Wentworth’s letter holds pain and possibility together: the renewed declaration is intense because he still does not know whether Anne’s feelings have survived their long separation.

Source details

Persuasion, Chapter XXIII, Project Gutenberg #105. Captain Frederick Wentworth writes the line to Anne Elliot while listening to her conversation with Captain Harville; the letter is signed “F. W.” and is fictional character writing, not Austen autobiography.

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If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.
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“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”

Jane Austen · Emma · 1815
Voice: Fictional character · George Knightley
Meaning & context

The difficulty of speaking is used as evidence of emotional depth, contrasting sincere feeling with polished or excessive declaration.

Source details

Emma, Volume III, Chapter XIII, scan-backed 1816 John Murray first edition on Wikisource. George Knightley tells Emma “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more” during his declaration, explicitly contrasting the depth of his feeling with his difficulty making polished speeches.

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Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
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“Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”

John Milton · Paradise Lost · 1667
Voice: Fictional character · Satan
Meaning & context

Recovery from a dark condition is pictured as difficult and lengthy rather than instant.

Source details

Paradise Lost (1667), Book II, lines 432–433; Satan addresses the infernal council before undertaking the journey out of Hell. The line describes the epic’s literal route from Hell toward light and remains character speech, not a general promise of recovery.

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