Echoes Across Time

The Dry-Eyed Lovers

Not all love writing is earnest. Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Jorge Luis Borges, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy — the wry tradition that observed love with a cooled eye and found the comedy hiding inside the tragedy.

36 total quotes

“
Love is not fashionable any more, the poets are coming down with reality.

—Bessie HeadNovelist

Post-War ERA • Southern Africa

“
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

—Jane AustenNovelist

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

“
How can she reasonably love a Man who is always using his Power against her?

—Mary AstellPhilosopher, Feminist & Writer

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

“
To live a life of joy and happiness, you must be a little bit mad.

—Zhang AilingWriter & Novelist

Early Modern ERA • East Asia

“
Love does not see race, but society makes sure it does.

—Mayotte CapéciaNovelist

Early Modern ERA • Caribbean

“
The course of true love never did run smooth.

—William ShakespearePlaywright & Poet

Renaissance ERA • Western Europe

“
Love is bitter, but those who have tasted it find all else bland.

—Mihri HatunPoet

Renaissance ERA • MENA

“
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

—Jane AustenNovelist

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

“
Love's an uncommonly short‑lived plant, its roots in the air.

—Vikram SethNovelist & Poet

Late Modern ERA • South Asia

“
A story is like a woman, only one that is not meant to be forgotten.

—Isaac BabelWriter

Early Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

“
To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god.

—Jorge Luis BorgesWriter & Essayist

Post-War ERA • Latin America

“
Love is a cunning weaver of fantasies and fables.

—SapphoLyric Poet

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

“
Marriage is like a long conversation that you have to continue until you die.

—Zhang AilingWriter & Novelist

Early Modern ERA • East Asia

“
It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting creature.

—Roald DahlNovelist

Late Modern ERA • Western Europe

“
Man's love is of man's life a thing apart; 'Tis woman's whole existence.

—Lord ByronPoet

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

“
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

—Leo TolstoyNovelist & Philosopher

Industrial Age ERA • Eastern Europe

“
If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.

—Marilyn MonroeActress

Early Modern ERA • North America

“
Marriage is the tomb of trust and love between women and men.

—Olympe de GougesActivist & Playwright

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

“
Love is a kind of madness, and the sanest lovers are those who know it.

—Layla al-AkhyaliyyaPoet

Medieval ERA • MENA

“
Love is the whole history of a woman's life; it is but an episode in a man's.

—Germaine de StaëlWriter & Thinker

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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