Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all.
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880). copy citation

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Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Source The Brothers Karamazov
Topic action love
Date 1880
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Constance Garnett
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28054/28054-h/28054-h.html https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov

Context

“Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love. Don't be frightened overmuch even at your evil actions. I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.” source