Kiss

“ Are we face to face with something primitive, or something conventional and derivative? Is it as natural to kiss when we are transported with love as it is to smile when we are mirthful, or weep when we are sad? ”

“ There are kisses that mean little to the taker or the giver, There are other that mean Oh so much, Of those we must beware, For the kiss that from certain party fairly makes you shiver From another is a trifle light as air, Often times when lips are meeting one or both is really cheating, It's no more than pressure of the finger tips, In some cases you go through it, Feeling there is nothing to it, For a kiss comes from the heart and not the lips. ”

“ O generous giver of thy perfect kiss?
Thou gavest me thy lips, thine eyes, thine hair;
I brought thee worship—was it not thy due?
If thou art cruel—still art thou not fair?
Roses thou gavest—shalt thou not bring rue?
Alas! have I not brought thee sorrow too?
How dare I face the future and its drouth,
Missing that golden honeycomb thy mouth?
Kiss and make up—'tis the wise ancient way;
Back to my arms, O bountiful deep breast!
No more of words that know not what they say;
To kiss is wisdom—folly all the rest. ”

“ The kiss of love is the exultant message of the longing of love, love eternally young, the burning prayer of hot desire, which is born on the lovers’ lips, and “rises,” as Charles Fuster has said, “up to the blue sky from the green plains,” like a tender, trembling thank-offering. ”

“ Kiss me once again, my darling, though my soul forever dies
With the dying of the love-light from your clear and splendid eyes;
Lift your lips to mine and kiss me, though the kiss leave desolate
Every palace I have builded in the dreamland of my fate. ”

“ Then the kiss of these material women burned me like a red-hot iron, and I thrust them from me with displeasure, with horror and with loathing; for then, as now, I needed for my fevered forehead a breath of the sea-breeze, to drink ice and to kiss snow, snow tinted by mellow light, snow illumined by a golden ray of sunshine,—a woman white, beautiful and cold, like this woman of stone who seems to allure me with her ethereal grace, to sway like a flame—who challenges me with parted lips, offering me a wealth of love. Oh, yes, a kiss! Only a kiss of thine can calm the fire which is consuming me. ”

“ There is the kiss that sootheth and the kiss that thrilleth, the kiss that flattereth and the kiss that is a pastime. But the best of all kisses is the first kiss; for it is the most difficult.
Yet, in all the days of thy life, no two men shall kiss thee alike. For one man shall regard thy kisses as a boon, and another shall regard them as an amusement; but an husband shall consider them, as the shaving of his chin, a morning duty. ”

“ There is the proud kiss, a pledge of eternal hatred, which strikes the recipient like a falling avalanche of Alpine snow. There is the icy kiss, which sends your heart into your boots and almost stifles the ebb and flow of one’s life-blood. There is the frothy kiss, which means nothing, and is common between relations and friends. There is the hypocritical, or Judas kiss, which gives you a convulsive bang of pretended affection on both cheeks—lips saying, “I am so glad to see you,” etc., and the heart saying, “I dislike you, and if I could show it, I would.” ”

“ For each red ear a general kiss he gains,
With each smut ear he smuts the luckless swains;
But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast,
Red as her lips, and taper as her waist,
She walks the round and culls one favored beau,
Who leaps the luscious tribute to bestow. ”

“ I kissed her dainty finger-tips,
I kissed her on the lily brow,
I kissed her on the false, false lips—
That burning kiss, I feel it now!
"True love gives true love of the best:
Then take," I cried, "my heart to thee!" ”

“ For you the sweet proffered kiss?
Can such pleasure from an earthly life flow?
Ah! How light and radiance danced before my eyes.
All my senses yearned for those lips!
A longing in those bright eyes sparkled ”

“ A kiss which is ever so little retarded, a youth laying softly his lips on those of a fair maiden, and, for the period of a breath or two not taking them away, feeling that not alone the lips touched hers nor yet only his arms embraced her, is filled with a natural response which tingles through his frame to his very fingertips and makes soft and undulating the sea crag on which they stand. ”

“ WHAT IS A KISS?
It may perhaps seem somewhat futile to begin with discussing what a kiss is: that every child of course knows. We are greeted with kisses directly we enter the world, and kisses follow us all our life long, as Hölty sings—
Giving kisses, snatching kisses,
Keeps the busy world employed. ”

“ Her kisses are not confined to the lips, but lovers' tongues even do their endeavour to kiss each other. At the conclusion of the amorous combat, she pants, overcome with the fiery delight, and her love-sick breath finding its way to her lips, encounter the lover's kiss still wandering there, and mingling with it both descend and exert their electric influence upon her heart, which leaps and beats, and were it not fast bound within, would desert its seat, and be drawn forth by the strength of kisses. ”

“ I was content to wait, and feel the light evening air in the garden wafting happiness over me. And all this had come from a kiss! I can call the time to mind when I used to wonder why people made such a fuss about kissing. ”

“ THE KISS—A DIALOGUE.
1. Among thy fancies, tell me this:
What is the thing we call a kiss?
2. I shall resolve ye what it is:
It is a creature born and bred
Between the lips, all cherry red;
By love and warm desires fed;
Chor. And makes more soft the bridal bed. [94]
It is an active flame that flies
First to the babies of the eyes,
And charms them there with lullabies;
Chor. And stills the bride too when she cries:
Then to the chin, the cheek, the ear,
It frisks, and flies,—now here, now there ”

“ Touch but my lips with those falr lips of thine,
(Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red)
The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine.
What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head:
⁠Look in mine eye-balls where thy beauty lies,
⁠Then why not lips on lips, since eyes on eyes?
Art thou asham'd to kiss? then wink again,
And I will wink, so shall the day seem night,
Love keeps his revels where there be but twain:
Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight. ”

“ Still with your ringlets, and kiss time away;
By love’s religion, I must here confess it,
The most I love when I the least express it!
Herrick.
Love in her sunny eyes does basking play;
Love walks the pleasant mazes of her hair;
Love does on both her lips forever stay,
And sows and reaps a thousand kisses there.
Cowley.
Her kisses faster, though unknown before,
Than blossoms fall on parting spring, she strewed;
Than blossoms sweeter, and in number more. ”

“ Of the poor sea bird, so gentle is she!
⁠But if you'll not send
⁠My dear love to land,
O, bear this kiss hence in swiftness with thee;
⁠Whisper not to her
⁠Who is the wooer,
She'll know by the kiss, that the kiss comes from me. ”

“ Kiss me, so long but as a kiss may live;
And in my heartless breast and burning brain
That word, that kiss, shall all thoughts else survive,
With food of saddest memory kept alive, _230
Now thou art dead, as if it were a part
Of thee, my Adonais! ”

“ By it I want a Thousand Kisses: a Thousand—made all of Wantonness.
Kisses come in differing kinds and only one is Wanton.
The kiss of a lover has an intense cosmic use: the kiss of a mother is tender fostering food: the kiss of a friend is vantage and grace of friendliness: the kiss of a child is cool charm of snowflakes and green springtime leaves. ”

“ A kiss to or from a woman we love is a far too delicate pledge of affection to bear the gaze of strangers.
How many engaged couples would, do you suppose, find favour in Cato’s eyes? How often do they not by their behaviour offend the commonest notions of decency? Their kisses and caresses, which ought to be their secret possession, they expose quite unconcernedly to the sight of all. One evening at a large party I saw a young girl ostentatiously kiss on the mouth the gentleman to whom she was engaged. ”

“ The gentle pressure of the hand, one kiss—
A kiss not given yet not resisted—tells
A tale of love that words are poor to tell.
And when she goes how lonely seems her way
Through groves, through fields, through busy haunts of men ”

“ Then as she sat down I gave her such a luscious kiss on her mouth, saying: 'You look so pretty; do excuse me, if you won't kiss me in return. I do so love to be kissed by nice people; not gentlemen, of course, but I am so fond of ladies if they will let me love them. Do kiss me, darling!' and I drew her face again towards mine and looked into those lovely deep blue eyes. ”

“ A kiss is expressive of love in the widest and most comprehensive meaning of the word, bringing a message of loyal affection, gratitude, compassion, sympathy, intense joy, and profound sorrow. In the first place a kiss is the expression of the deep and intense feeling which knits parents to their offspring. At its entrance into the world the little helpless infant is received by its father’s and mother’s warm kiss. ”

“ Sometimes we would embrace for five minutes, in one interminable kiss, one of those kisses which makes lovers close their eyes, lest part of it should escape through their clouded soul which it is ravaging. ”

“ He knew his own betrothèd bride,
She who would rather die with him
Than live to gain the world beside! [348]
Her arms are round her lover now,
His livid cheek to hers she presses,
And dips, to bind his burning brow,
In the cool lake her loosened tresses.
...
One struggle, and his pain is past,
Her lover is no longer living!
One kiss the maiden gives, one last,
Long kiss, which she expires in giving! ”

“ There is, besides, a practice never to be sufficiently commended. If you go to any place, you are received with a kiss by all; if you depart on a journey, you are dismissed with a kiss; if you return, the kisses are exchanged. Do they come to visit you, a kiss is the first thing; do they leave you, you kiss them all around. Do they meet you anywhere, kisses in abundance. In short, wherever you turn, there is nothing but kisses. Ah, Faustus, if you had once tasted the tenderness, the fragrance of these kisses, you would wish to stay in England, not for ten years only, but for life. ”

“ That reverend wag, Sydney Smith, says, “We are in favor of a certain amount of shyness when a kiss is proposed; but it should not be too long, and, when the fair one gives it, let it be administered with warmth and energy,—let there be soul in it. If she closes her eyes and sigh immediately after it, the effect is greater. She should be careful not to slobber a kiss, but give it as a humming-bird runs his bill into a honeysuckle, deep but delicate. There is much virtue in a kiss when well delivered. ”

“ They tremble; but transported with delight, they have the delicious sensation of being close together, and by degrees their lips meet. That divine kiss makes them one, that kiss, which is the gate of a terrestrial heaven, that kiss which speaks of human delights, which continually promises them, announces them, and precedes them. ”

“ Lo, kissing is a fine art, and there are many artists; and one shall take a kiss from thee as though he doeth thee a favor, and another shall take a kiss as though he had taken thy pocketbook.
Yet, no man shall ever understand why thou seemest pleased, or why thou waxest wroth, when he kisseth thee; for it is all in the way of his wooing.
Verily, verily, a man who kisseth a woman with his hat on shall be annihilated. ”

“ When lovers kiss on the cheeks, it is because they are searching, feeling for one another’s lips. Lovers are made by a kiss. ”

“ No—no—get your little charmer up into a corner by yourselves—watch when everybody’s back is turned—then slip your arm around her waist, and kiss her with a long sweet kiss, as if you were a bee sucking honey from a flower. Nor can one kiss every girl. ”

“ Soft wishes, vented with soft-whispered sighs. [172]
Thus, by her lips unnumbered roses pressed,
Kisses, unfolding in sweet bloom, confessed;
And, flushed with rapture at each new-born kiss,
She felt her swelling soul o’erwhelmed in bliss.
Now round this orb, soft-floating on the air,
The beauteous goddess speeds her radiant car ”

“ Don’t make a noise over it as if you were firing off shooting crackers, or pounce upon it like a hungry hawk upon an innocent dove, but gently fold the damsel in your arms without smashing her standing collar or spoiling her curls, and by a sweet pressure upon her mouth, revel in the blissfulness of your situation without smacking your lips on it as you would over a glass of beer. It might be well at the conclusion of the operation to ask the young woman if it was satisfactory, for we are never satisfied that a lady understands a kiss unless we have it from her own mouth. ”

“ The kiss which comes precisely at the moment when it should, in quite sufficient warmth and yet not of complicating fervor, working no harm and but joy to both involved—those kisses, now that one pauses to think it over, are relatively few. ”

“ So hurried Ed, for fear the oar he’d miss,
Yet still found time, yea, thrice, her lips to kiss;
Just as a man is moved by sparkling drinks
Performs an act before of danger thinks.
The kiss affected Ed as strongest wine ”

“ Each leaning on their elbows and their hips: 44
Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown,
And ’gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips,
And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,
“If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.” 48
He burns with bashful shame, she with her tears
Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks;
Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs
To fan and blow them dry again she seeks. 52
He saith she is immodest, blames her miss;
What follows more, she murders with a kiss. ”