The decent man and the lover holds back even when he could obtain what he wishes. To win this silent consent is to make use of all the violence permitted in love. To read it in the eyes, to see it in the ways in spite of the mouth's denial, that is the art of he who knows how to love. If he then completes his happiness, he is not brutal, he is decent. He does not insult chasteness; he respects it; he serves it. JeanJacques Rousseau
About This Quote

Love is an act of the will. By this act you do not commit yourself, because love is a decision. But you allow yourself to be loved.

Source: The Works Of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Some Similar Quotes
  1. A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. - Jane Austen
  2. I would always rather be happy than dignified. - Unknown
  3. Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like... - Gillian Anderson
  4. It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone. It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who can’t live with him. … I’m neither smart nor stupid,... - Coco Chanel
  5. I am not an angel, ' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall... - Unknown
More Quotes By JeanJacques Rousseau
  1. Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.
  2. Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.
  3. It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.
  4. To live is not to breathe but to act. It is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, of all the parts of ourselves which give us the sentiment of our existence. The man who has lived the most is not he...
  5. Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man
Related Topics