Dorothy Parker: Quotes about love

Dorothy Parker was American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist. Explore interesting quotes on love.

Dorothy Parker: 344 quotes28 likes

“Drink and dance and laugh and lie,
Love, the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)”

Source: "The Flaw in Paganism" in Death and Taxes (1931)

“In youth, it was a way I had,
To do my best to please.
And change, with every passing lad
To suit his theories.

But now I know the things I know
And do the things I do,
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you.”

Source: The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

“Now I know the things I know, and I do the things I do; and if you do not like me so, to hell, my love, with you!”

“I shudder at the thought of men….
I'm due to fall in love again”

“I hate writing, I love having written.”

“Four be the things I'd have been better without: love, curiosity, freckles and doubt.”

“I was always sweet, at first. Oh, it's so easy to be sweet to people before you love them.”

Source: Collected Stories

“Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it and it darts away.”

“The sun's gone dim, and the moon's gone black. For I loved him, and he didn't love back.”

“Woman wants monogamy;
Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman's moon and sun;
Man has other forms of fun.
Woman lives but in her lord;
Count to ten, and man is bored.
With this the gist and sum of it,
What earthly good can come of it?”

“Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
a medley of extemporanea,
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
and I am Marie of Romania.”

16 August 1925
Source: Enough Rope (1926)

“Be you wise and never sad,
You will get your lovely lad.
Never serious be, nor true,
And your wish will come to you--
And if that makes you happy, kid,
You'll be the first it ever did.”

“Oh, seek, my love, your newer way;
I'll not be left in sorrow.
So long as I have yesterday,
Go take your damned tomorrow!”

“I'll be the way I was when I first met him. Then maybe he'll like me again. I was always sweet, at first. Oh, it's so easy to be sweet to people before you love them.”

Source: The Portable Dorothy Parker

“Once, when I was young and true.
Someone left me sad -
Broke my brittle heart in two;
And that is very bad.

Love is for unlucky folk,
Love is but a curse.
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.”

Variant: A Very Short Song

Once, when I was young and true,
Someone left me sad-
Broke my brittle heart in two;
And that is very bad.

Love is for unlucky folk,
Love is but a curse.
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.
Source: Enough Rope