Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come

William Wordsworth
About This Quote

This quote from Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It” speaks to the idea that we have no control over our birth or our death. We are born, we live some time, and then we die. The only thing we can control is living a meaningful life while we have the chance to do so. This quote is especially powerful in the context of matters of the heart because it belies the idea that love is something that comes from outside ourselves.

Love, in this case, is something that was forged from within us. Love isn’t something we find and then cling on to it for dear life until we draw it away like a magnet and become hopelessly lost in its power. Rather, love is something we sustain and maintain throughout our lives.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grassthe world is too full to talk about. - Jalaluddin Rumi
  2. I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts. - Leo Tolstoy
  3. What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul - Victor Hugo
  4. Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth,... - Unknown
  5. Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation. - Jalaluddin Rumi
More Quotes By William Wordsworth
  1. With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
  2. Habit rules the unreflecting herd.
  3. Books! tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it.
  4. Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind; In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be...
  5. The thought of our past years in me doth breed Perpetual benediction: not indeed For that which is most worthy to be blest– Delight and liberty, the simple creed Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast.
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