--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I couldn't have spoken like this…" description: "\"I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg" --- # I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when… ![“I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you're so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then…” quote by Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg) > “I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you're so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting it to come true.” [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He describes intense longing and renewed love, emphasizing patience and deep emotional connection beyond fleeting moments. **In simple terms:** Longing for deeper love. Key Takeaway Cultivate patience in relationships. Themes love longing patience Mood hopeful introspective Type romantic philosophical When to use this quote - relationship - waiting - reunion - trust Key Concepts emotional intimacy expectation Questions to Reflect On - What does patience mean in love? - How to balance desire and reality? A Different Perspective Romantic idealism may ignore practical challenges. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Come Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/come-remembered-6039194/) [Flame Come](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flame-come-2957122/) [Flames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flames/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [Looking forward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looking-forward/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Now and then](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/now-and-then/) [Quietly Trusting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quietly-trusting-6039195/) [Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Thirsty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirsty/) [Thought Burnt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-burnt-6039193/) [Trusting Come](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trusting-come-1055212/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) [Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Waste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste/) [Yesterday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yesterday/) ## Related quotes > [“For God's sake, if I learned anything during this damn trial it's that the only way someone can leave you is if you let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/for-god-s-sake-if-i-learned-anything-during-this-damn-trial-it-s-that/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“We stared at each other across a narrow space that was full of danger, that almost seemed to roar, like flame. ‘Come,’ he said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/we-stared-at-each-other-across-a-narrow-space-that-was-full-of-danger/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [“brave love, dream not of staunching such strict flame, but come, lean to my wound; burn on, burn on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/brave-love-dream-not-of-staunching-such-strict-flame-but-come-lean-to/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“Simply put, mind power is placing a request, or a wish, if you will, and trusting that somehow it will come to be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-richards/simply-put-mind-power-is-placing-a-request-or-a-wish-if-you-will-and/) [Stephen Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-richards/) > [“We made love like water makes life, and thinking about it makes me so horny I’m thirsty. My cup runneth over, but if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/we-made-love-like-water-makes-life-and-thinking-about-it-makes-me-so/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [ The heart becomes sick, as the body becomes sick, and its remedy is al-Tawbah (repentance) and protection \[from transgression\]. It becomes rusty as a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-qayyim-al-jawziyya/the-heart-becomes-sick-as-the-body-becomes-sick-and-its-remedy-is-al/) [Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-qayyim-al-jawziyya/) > [“You keep thinking you’re too much for me that I will say I’ve had enough. But I drank all you poured for me and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/you-keep-thinking-you-re-too-much-for-me-that-i-will-say-i-ve-had/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [“People always ask me "Son what does it take To reach out and touch your dreams?" To them I always say Are you hungry?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-mcgraw/people-always-ask-me-son-what-does-it-take-to-reach-out-and-touch/) [Tim McGraw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-mcgraw/) > [“Morse poured himself a can of beer. "Champagne's a lovely drink, but it makes you thirsty, doesn't it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-dexter/morse-poured-himself-a-can-of-beer-champagne-s-a-lovely-drink-but-it/) [Colin Dexter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-dexter/) > [“Only the thirsty knows the real taste of water; only the lonely knows the real weight of emptiness!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/only-the-thirsty-knows-the-real-taste-of-water-only-the-lonely-knows/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“A certain man placed a fountain by the wayside, and he hung up a cup near to it by a little chain. He was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-h-spurgeon/a-certain-man-placed-a-fountain-by-the-wayside-and-he-hung-up-a-cup/) [Charles H. Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-h-spurgeon/) > [“If ours souls are thirsty, we can draw freely, livng water from the well of salvation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/if-ours-souls-are-thirsty-we-can-draw-freely-livng-water-from-the/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“I'll get it if you need it, I'll search if you don't see it, You're thirsty, I'll be rain, You get hurt, I'll take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-degraw/i-ll-get-it-if-you-need-it-i-ll-search-if-you-don-t-see-it-you-re/) [Gavin DeGraw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gavin-degraw/) > [Trying to find this industry's tendency to celebrate the physical is a waste of time. So I'm happy to play the game. But I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-wilde/trying-to-find-this-industry-s-tendency-to-celebrate-the-physical-is/) [Olivia Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-wilde/) > [Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## More by Edith Wharton > [“Suddenly the air was full of that deep clangor of bells which periodically covers Rome with a roof of silver.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/suddenly-the-air-was-full-of-that-deep-clangor-of-bells-which/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. And he felt himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/untrained-human-nature-was-not-frank-and-innocent-it-was-full-of-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“High Pasture Come up--come up: in the dim vale below The autumn mist muffles the fading trees, But on this keen hill-pasture, though the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/high-pasture-come-up-come-up-in-the-dim-vale-below-the-autumn-mist/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Two ways to be a light for all, is to be a flaming candle or the mirror that reflects it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/two-ways-to-be-a-light-for-all-is-to-be-a-flaming-candle-or-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“... no treasure-house of Atreus was ever as rich as a well-stored memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/no-treasure-house-of-atreus-was-ever-as-rich-as-a-well-stored-memory/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“...the endless labour of rolling human stupidity up the steep hill of understanding.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-endless-labour-of-rolling-human-stupidity-up-the-steep-hill-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of-the-other-marriages-about/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-real-loneliness-is-living-among-all-these-kind-people-who-only/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [With a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/with-a-shiver-of-foreboding-he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Life is the saddest thing there is, next to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-the-saddest-thing-there-is-next-to-death/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/a-classic-is-classic-not-because-it-conforms-to-certain-structural/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-taste-in-the-present-american/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“But in a few years more perhaps there may be; for, deep within us as the ghost instinct lurks, I seem to see it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/but-in-a-few-years-more-perhaps-there-may-be-for-deep-within-us-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Dialogue in fiction should be reserved for the culminating moments and regarded as the spray into which the great wave of narrative breaks in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/dialogue-in-fiction-should-be-reserved-for-the-culminating-moments/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“These Americans, under their forthcoming manner, their surface-gush, as some might call it, have an odd reticence about what goes on underneath.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/these-americans-under-their-forthcoming-manner-their-surface-gush-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) [Explore all 504 Edith Wharton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## More Flames quotes > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [Love will fan the flame, and that flame will warm the heart that's waiting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-w-smith/love-will-fan-the-flame-and-that-flame-will-warm-the-heart-that-s/) [Michael W. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-w-smith/) > [I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/i-m-a-candle-flame-that-sways-in-currents-of-air-you-can-t-see-you/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [Well, He had known what love was-a sharp pang, a fierce experience, in the midst of whose flames he was struggling! but, through that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/well-he-had-known-what-love-was-a-sharp-pang-a-fierce-experience-in/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [I hate playing games. I want love where there's actual flames.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-hate-playing-games-i-want-love-where-there-s-actual-flames/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A real flame of love is a subtle thing. It burns as a will-o'-the-wisp, dancing onward to fairy lands of delight. It roars as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-dreiser/a-real-flame-of-love-is-a-subtle-thing-it-burns-as-a-will-o-the-wisp/) [Theodore Dreiser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-dreiser/) > [The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear, animated with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a proper temper of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-sectaries-of-a-persecuted-religion-depressed-by-fear-animated/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [A thing of orchestrated hell-a terrible symphony of light and flame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-r-murrow/a-thing-of-orchestrated-hell-a-terrible-symphony-of-light-and-flame/) [Edward R. Murrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-r-murrow/) > [I want a blaze of light to flame in me forever in a timeless, dear love of everything. And why should I pretend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-want-a-blaze-of-light-to-flame-in-me-forever-in-a-timeless-dear/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [I have been much amused at ye singular phenomena resulting from bringing of a needle into contact with a piece of amber or resin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/i-have-been-much-amused-at-ye-singular-phenomena-resulting-from/) [Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/) > [The fire inside people is like a match; the way to ignite that flame is initially through friction, then other matches are lit through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/the-fire-inside-people-is-like-a-match-the-way-to-ignite-that-flame/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [“Savannah came to him instantly, her face lit up with some emotion he dared not name.She was in a man's silk shirt and nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-feehan/savannah-came-to-him-instantly-her-face-lit-up-with-some-emotion-he/) [Christine Feehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-feehan/) > [She was drawn to damaged souls like a moth to a flame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-mcpartlin/she-was-drawn-to-damaged-souls-like-a-moth-to-a-flame/) [Anna McPartlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-mcpartlin/) > [“Then think of fire, It’s laughter, the music of splintering beams and glass, The flames reaching through the second story of a house almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-levis/then-think-of-fire-it-s-laughter-the-music-of-splintering-beams-and/) [Larry Levis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-levis/) [Browse all 1,479 Flames quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flames/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you're so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting it to come true.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edith Wharton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterday-because-when-we-ve-been/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Flames" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterday-because-when-we-ve-been/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/edith-wharton-512_flames_i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterd_2405682.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing…” — Edith Wharton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edith Wharton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I couldn't have spoken like this...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterday-because-when-we-ve-been/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-couldn-t-have-spoken-like-this-yesterday-because-when-we-ve-been/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```