Source identified
“Love cannot be stifled, but it may die out.”
Affection cannot always be suppressed by command, but it can still change over time when the conditions that sustained it disappear.
Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 39, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).
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“The will controls the beginnings of love, but not its endings.”
Entering a relationship may involve choice, but the later course of attachment can become more complicated than the decision that began it.
Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 45, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).
Source identified
“Love possesses not nor would it be possessed.”
Love is presented as relationship without ownership: closeness does not grant control over another person or require surrender of one’s own personhood.
Source note: The Prophet, “On Love”; Gibran warns against turning love into possession before describing love as sufficient unto itself.
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“In a world where all is fleeting, change alone endures.”
Stability is temporary, so practical judgment requires expecting change rather than treating present arrangements as permanent.
Source note: Counsels and Maxims, T. Bailey Saunders translation, in a discussion of fortune and apparent stability.
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“You have buried one whom you loved; look about for someone to love.”
Continuing to love does not erase the person who died; it refuses to let bereavement close the capacity for relationship permanently.
Source note: Letter 63 urges remembrance of a lost friend while continuing to participate in friendship and life.
Source identified
“The present time is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain.”
Seneca divides time into three conditions and gives the present special urgency because it is both available and quickly passing.
Source note: On the Shortness of Life, Chapter X; opening distinction between past, present and future.