Courtship Quotes

• Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascinations of her shape. It's your barn she's after.

  Hesiod

  Sweet, Talking, Fascination

  Hesiod (1991). “My Brother's Killer”, p.63, University of Michigan Press

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• The Greek epigram intimates that the force of love is not shown by the courting of beauty, but where the like desire is inflamed for one who is ill-favored.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Love Is, Greek, Desire

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.115, Courier Corporation

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• It is your virtue, being men, to try;
  And it is ours, by virtue to deny.

  Michael Drayton

  Men, Trying, Being Me

  Michael Drayton (1753). “The Works of Michael Drayton, Esq”, p.265

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• A man is in no danger so long as he talks his love; but to write it is to impale himself on his own pothooks.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Writing, Men, Long

  Douglas William Jerrold, Blanchard Jerrold (1859). “Specimens of Douglas Jerrold's wit: together with selections, chiefly from his contributions to journals, intended to illustrate his opinions”, p.48

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• See how the skilful lover spreads his toils.

  Benjamin Stillingfleet

  Toil, Lovers, Spread

  Benjamin Stillingfleet (1811). “Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet: Several of which Have Never Before Been Published ...”

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• Every man ought to be in love a few times in his life, and to have a smart attack of the fever. You are better for it when it is over: the better for your misfortune, if you endure it with a manly heart; how much the better for success, if you win it and a good wife into the bargain!

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Smart, Heart, Men

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1869). “The Book of Snobs: And, Sketches and Travels in London ; [Character Sketches]”, p.273

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• I knelt, and with the fervor of a lip unused to the cool breath of reason, told my love.

  Nathaniel Parker Willis

  Lips, Reason, Fervor

  Nathaniel Parker Willis (1829). “Fugitive Poetry”, p.48

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• Every man in the time of courtship and in the first entrance of marriage, puts on a behavior like my correspondent's holiday suit.

  Joseph Addison

  Holiday, Men, Firsts

  Joseph Addison (1856). “The works of ... Joseph Addison, with notes by R. Hurd”, p.217

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• I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like the state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Success, Business, Goal

  Letter to Ellen Terry, 28 Aug. 1896

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• If insemination were the sole biological function of sex, it could be achieved far more economically in a few seconds of mounting and insertion. Indeed, the least social of mammals mate with scarcely more ceremony. The species that have evolved long-term bonds are also, by and large, the ones that rely on elaborate courtship rituals. . . . Love and sex do indeed go together.

  E. O. Wilson

  Love, Sex, Long

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• If fathers are sometimes sulky at the appearance of the destined son-in-law, is it not a fact that mothers become sentimental and, as it were, love their own loves over again.

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Mother, Father, Son

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1859). “The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century”, p.144

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• The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which passes in courtship, provided his passion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion. Love, desire, hope, all the pleasing emotions of the soul, rise in the pursuit.

  Joseph Addison

  Party, Passion, Men

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1852). “The Spectator”, p.296

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• Either you have a rival or you don't. If you have one, you must please in order to be preferred to him, and if you don't you must still please-in order to avoid having one.

  Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

  Order, Rivals, Please

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• O days remember'd well! remember'd all!
  The bitter sweet, the honey and the gall;
  Those garden rambles in the silent night,
  Those trees so shady, and that moon se bright,
  That thickset alley by the arbor clos'd,
  That woodbine seat where we at last repos'd;
  And then the hopes that came and then were gone,
  Quick as the clouds beneath the moon past on.

  George Crabbe

  Sweet, Moon, Night

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• A town, before it can be plundered and, deserted, must first be taken; and in this particular Venus has borrowed a law from her consort Mars. A woman that wishes to retain her suitor must keep him in the trenches; for this is a siege which the besieger never raises for want of supplies, since a feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation. Inanition may cause it to die a slow death, but repletion always destroys it by a sudden one.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Taken, Law, Wish

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”

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• When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Girl, Funny Inspirational

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• It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.

  Khalil Gibran

  Love, Spiritual, Emotional

  Khalil Gibran (2007). “Kahlil Gibran: Masterpieces”

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• Flattery in courtship is the highest insolence, for whilst it pretends to bestow on you more than you deserve, it is watching an opportunity to take from you what you really have.

  Sarah Fielding

  Opportunity, Flattery, Insolence

  Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier (1754). “The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable”, p.45

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• There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship, only backward.

  Erica Jong

  Marriage, Rhythm, Marriage And Divorce

  Erica Jong (1995). “How to Save Your Own Life”, N A L Trade

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• Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.

  Joseph Addison

  Marriage, Long, Literature

  Joseph Addison (1729). “The spectator”, p.43

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• There is too little courtship in the world.

  Vernon Lee

  World, Littles

  Vernon Lee (1907). “Hortus Vitae: And Limbo”

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• Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.

  Laurence Sterne

  Marriage, Numbers, Alarms

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• Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Love, Spiritual, Years

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• This is courtship all the world over - the man all tongue; the woman all ears.

  Emily Murphy

  Men, Ears, World

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• Courtship is to marriage, as a very witty prologue to a very dull play.

  William Congreve

  Marriage, Witty, Play

  'The Old Bachelor' (1693) act 5, sc. 10

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