(Notable Quotables is a meme brought to you by the Bewitched Bookworms. Every Monday you’re invited to share a favorite quote or two from the books you’ve been reading.)
Today’s Notable Quotables is in honor of Valentine’s Day. I’m not into the commercialism of it all, but any excuse I get to share quotes about love is okay by me.
The first two quotes are from Metamorphoses, a stage play by playwright Mary Zimmerman. I did this show in high school (it was put on by the local college), and fell in love with it. The play is an adaptation of Ovid’s famous work of the same name, and tells the stories within short vignettes. Although they’re all good, my favorite tells the story of Eros and Psyche. The god of love is always portrayed as being blindfolded, indicating that love isn’t about what you see, but about what you feel. The best lines from Zimmerman’s play are contained within this story.
” ‘Almost none of these stories have completely happy endings.’
‘This is different.’
‘Why is that?’
‘It’s just inevitable. The soul wanders in the dark, until it finds love. And so, wherever our love goes, there we find our soul.’
‘It always happens?’
‘If we’re lucky. And if we let ourselves be blind.’
‘Instead of watching out.’
‘Instead of always watching out.’ “
And, as the last line of the play:
” ‘Let me die still loving, and so, never die.’ ”
I love love, but then again…I love snark. And Dorothy Parker is perfect for that.
“A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet—
One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret;
‘My fragile leaves,’ it said, ‘his heart enclose.’
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.”
My Commonplace Book has scads of quotes about love, and I am, at heart, a total sucker for a great romance — be it mine or someone else’s.
Whether or not you’re into the Valentine’s Day “holiday,” I hope that you take a few minutes today to remind the people around you that you love and are grateful for them. And if you eat an entire box of chocolates, I won’t tell anybody. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Do you have a favorite play? What do you think about Valentine’s Day?
