If there are as many minds as there are men, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts
Anna... with a firm, barely noticeable smile on her lips
“I’m surprised at the parents! They say it’s a marriage of passion.”
“Of passion? What antediluvian thoughts you have! Who talks about passions these days?” said the ambassador’s wife.
“What’s to be done? This stupid old fashion hasn’t gone out of use,” said Vronsky.
[...]
“No, joking aside, I think that in order to know love one must make a mistake and then correct it,” said Princess Betsy.
“Even after marriage?” the ambassador’s wife said jokingly.
“It’s never too late to repent.” The diplomat uttered an English proverb.
“Precisely,” Betsy picked up, “one must make a mistake and then correct oneself. What do you think?” She turned to Anna, who, with a firm, barely noticeable smile on her lips was silently listening to this conversation.
“I think,” said Anna, toying with the glove she had taken off, “…if there are as many minds as there are men, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.”
by Leo Tolstoy
(September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910)
Anna Karenina
chapter 7
image – 16thletter
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This is sometimes translated as “if so many men, so many minds, certainly so many hearts, so many kinds of love.“
February 12th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
“…I think that in order to know love one must make a mistake and then correct it…. said Princess Betsy.”
I think Tolstoy was right about the above…I would like to think that not everyone go through the pain of making a mistake first…
Thank you for the post…