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Brideshead Revisited Love Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

Perhaps […] all our loves are merely hints and symbols; a hill of many invisible crests; doors that open as in a dream to reveal only a further stretch of carpet and another door; perhaps you and I are types and this sadness which sometimes falls between us springs from disappointment in our search, each straining through and beyond the other, snatching a glimpse now and then of the shadow which turns the corner always a pace or two ahead of us.

I had not forgotten Sebastian. He was with me daily in Julia; or rather it was Julia I had known in him, in those distant, Arcadian days. (2.4.67-8)

If what Charles says is true – if people like Sebastian and Julia are merely temporary vessels for some sort of lifelong emotion – does that undermine or devalue his relationships with them?

Quote #11

"You and Julia . . ."she said. And then, as we moved on towards the house, "When you met me last night did you think, 'Poor Cordelia, such an engaging child, grown up a plain and pious spinster, full of good works'? Did you think 'thwarted'?"

It was no time for prevarication. "Yes," I said, "I did; I don't now, so much."

"It's funny," she said, "that's exactly the word I thought of for you and Julia. When we were up in the nursery with Nanny. Thwarted passion,' I thought." (2.4.97-100)

Compare this to Anthony’s description of Charles’s paintings from South America – he seems to think that Charles’s talent has been "thwarted," too. Looks like more of that connection between love and art.