Your goodness must have some edge to it -- else it is none.

About This Quote

Your goodness must have some edge to it -- else it is none. This quote comes from a poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot.

The poem is about a man who is trying to find love and get married, but the woman he seeks turns out to be frigid and not interested in him. He decides that she has no goodness in her because she doesn’t give him anything and makes him feel bad for wanting her (he thinks), and he decides to give up on her and marry someone else instead (he thinks). Instead of talking about his own goodness, the narrator talks about the goodness of his future wife instead, implying that she will make him feel better about himself — not just because she loves him, but because she will give him what he wants: “your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none.” The narrator tries to convince himself that his happiness will come from his new wife, but he can’t just quit on the other woman because of what she might do for him.

So, he can’t really believe in his own goodness and happiness — only in the goodness of someone else — and so everything falls apart at the end of the poem.

Source: Culture, Behavior, Beauty, Books, Art, Eloquence, Power, Wealth, Illusions

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