“Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.”

Sorrows of Werther, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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William Makepeace Thackeray69

novelist 1811–1863

Related quotes

“Charlotte, having seen his body
Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a well-conducted person,
Went on cutting bread and butter.”

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) novelist

Sorrows of Werther, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“A man fell in love with Jeanne, and she tried to love him. But she complained that he uttered such ordinary words, that he could never say the magic phrase which would open her being.”

Anaïs Nin book Under a Glass Bell

Source: Under a Glass Bell

“She can find in her bewilderment no words wherewith to begin, how to order or where to end her speech; fain would she pour out all in her first utterance, but not even the first words doth fear-stricken shame allow her.”
Nec quibus incipiat demens videt ordine nec quo quove tenus, prima cupiens effundere voce omnia, sed nec prima pudor dat verba timenti.

Gaius Valerius Flaccus book Argonautica

Source: Argonautica, Book VII, Lines 433–435

“The first cut is the deepest, Baby I know —
The first cut is the deepest
'Cause when it comes to being lucky, she's cursed
When it comes to lovin' me, she's worst
But when it comes to being loved, she's first
That's how I know
The first cut is the deepest.”

Cat Stevens (1948) British singer-songwriter

The First Cut Is the Deepest, from New Masters (1967)
Song lyrics

“She would wonder what had hurt her when she found her face wet with tears, and then would wonder how she could have been hurt without knowing it.”

George MacDonald book The Day Boy and the Night Girl

Source: The Day Boy and the Night Girl

“Yes yes (quoth she) for all those wyse woordis vttred,
I know on which syde my bread is buttred.
But there will no butter cleaue on my breade.
And on my bread any butter to be spreade.
Euery promise that thou therin dost vtter,
Is as sure as it were sealed with butter.”

John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs

Yes yes, said she, for all those wise words uttered,
I know on which side my bread is buttered.
But there will no butter cleave on my bread.
And on my bread any butter to be spread.
Every promise that you therein do utter,
Is as sure as it were sealed with butter.
Part II, chapter 7.
Proverbs (1546)