The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer.
 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860). copy citation

Context

“And have we ever forgotten that the fresh cheek of the young John Milton tingled under the lips of some high-born Italian beauty, who, I believe, did not think to leave her card by the side of the slumbering youth, but has bequeathed the memory of her pretty deed to all coming time? The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a deal longer.
There is one disadvantage which the man of philosophical habits of mind suffers, as compared with the man of action. While he is taking an enlarged and rational view of the matter before him, he lets his chance slip through his fingers.” source

Meaning and analysis

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