--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a bathtub lined with white porcelain…" description: "\"As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, O my much praise..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png" --- # As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot… ![“As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, O my much praised but-not-altogether-satisfactory lady.” quote by Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png) > “As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, O my much praised but-not-altogether-satisfactory lady.” [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A metaphor of a lover’s fading passion likened to cooling water in a porcelain tub, suggesting gradual loss of ardor. **In simple terms:** Love can cool slowly like warm water. Key Takeaway Nurture affection before it wanes. Themes love passion loss metaphor Mood melancholic reflective Type poetic literary When to use this quote - marriage counseling - long‑term relationships - creative writing - art criticism Key Concepts Romanticism impermanence emotional decay Questions to Reflect On - Do you notice subtle signs of fading love? - How can you rekindle warmth? A Different Perspective If the relationship is neglected, the cooling may accelerate. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Porcelain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/porcelain/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [The heart communes best when it does not try to speak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-weis/the-heart-communes-best-when-it-does-not-try-to-speak/) [Margaret Weis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-weis/) > [Respect people who trust you. It takes a lot for people to trust you, so treat their trust like precious porcelain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-cox/respect-people-who-trust-you-it-takes-a-lot-for-people-to-trust-you/) Brandon Cox > [I can see that the sadness has returned. And it's not a beautiful sadness- beautiful sadness is a myth. Sadness turns our features to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-can-see-that-the-sadness-has-returned-and-it-s-not-a-beautiful/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [“Of all things broken and lost, porcelain troubles me most.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/czes-aw-mi-osz/of-all-things-broken-and-lost-porcelain-troubles-me-most/) [Czesław Miłosz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/czes-aw-mi-osz/) > [Prom night can be a special night, if you let it be. I know you think it's for losers and something that popular kids…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-mirman/prom-night-can-be-a-special-night-if-you-let-it-be-i-know-you-think/) [Eugene Mirman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-mirman/) > [The Ripe FigNow that You live here in my chest,anywhere we sit is a mountaintop.And those other images,which have enchanted peoplelike porcelain dolls from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/the-ripe-fignow-that-you-live-here-in-my-chest-anywhere-we-sit-is-a/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [“Like a porcelain facade, her outer shell was breaking away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-kuehlke/like-a-porcelain-facade-her-outer-shell-was-breaking-away/) L.A. Kuehlke > [“So who is she? No wait, let me guess. Skin of the finest porcelain. Hair of the softest silk. A voice like birdsong, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alethea-kontis/so-who-is-she-no-wait-let-me-guess-skin-of-the-finest-porcelain-hair/) [Alethea Kontis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alethea-kontis/) > [Dead girl walking” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secrets” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. "I am that girl.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/dead-girl-walking-the-boys-say-in-the-halls-tell-us-your-secrets-the/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [Restrooms at gas stations were an unpleasant and shocking surprise; I had never considered the serious drawbacks of such lazily-cleaned rooms. I was completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-caine/restrooms-at-gas-stations-were-an-unpleasant-and-shocking-surprise-i/) [Rachel Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-caine/) > [Marriage, at first, may seem like it will last forever. But surprisingly, a lot of the times, it shatters easily. Like porcelain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-joon-gi/marriage-at-first-may-seem-like-it-will-last-forever-but-surprisingly/) Lee Joon-gi > [In the 19th century China dominated the manufacture of porcelain. Then European factories discovered a cheaper method of making pottery of equal quality, demolishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-sorrell/in-the-19th-century-china-dominated-the-manufacture-of-porcelain-then/) [Martin Sorrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-sorrell/) > [When one of my Japanese teacups is broken, I imagine that the real cause was not the careless hand of a maid but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/when-one-of-my-japanese-teacups-is-broken-i-imagine-that-the-real/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [ \[In the Field Museum of Natural History\] we could see very simple, primitive, hand-built pottery from Babylonia and ancient Egypt and so forth, Greece.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-mackenzie/in-the-field-museum-of-natural-history-we-could-see-very-simple/) [Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-mackenzie/) > [But it must not be forgotten that ... glass and porcelain were manufactured, stuffs dyed and metals separated from their ores by mere empirical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/but-it-must-not-be-forgotten-that-glass-and-porcelain-were/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) ## More by Ezra Pound > [“I once saw a small child go to an electric light switch as say, "Mamma, can I open the light?" She was using the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/i-once-saw-a-small-child-go-to-an-electric-light-switch-as-say-mamma/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [“Till now they send him dreams and no more deed; So doth he flame again with might for action, Forgetful of the council of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/till-now-they-send-him-dreams-and-no-more-deed-so-doth-he-flame-again/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [A great age of literature is perhaps always a great age of translations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/a-great-age-of-literature-is-perhaps-always-a-great-age-of/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [It would be about as easy for an American to become a Chinaman or a Hindoo as for him to acquire an Englishness or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/it-would-be-about-as-easy-for-an-american-to-become-a-chinaman-or-a/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [Poets who are not interested in music are, or become, bad poets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/poets-who-are-not-interested-in-music-are-or-become-bad-poets/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/anyone-who-is-too-lazy-to-master-the-comparatively-small-glossary/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [Mass ought to be in Latin, unless you could do it in Greek or Chinese. In fact, any abracadabra that no bloody member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/mass-ought-to-be-in-latin-unless-you-could-do-it-in-greek-or-chinese/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [where the dead walked and the living were made of cardboard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/where-the-dead-walked-and-the-living-were-made-of-cardboard/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [Liberty is not a right but a duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/liberty-is-not-a-right-but-a-duty/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [The artist is always beginning. Any work of art which is not a beginning, an invention, a discovery is of little worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/the-artist-is-always-beginning-any-work-of-art-which-is-not-a/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [“Any general statement is like a cheque drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/any-general-statement-is-like-a-cheque-drawn-on-a-bank-its-value/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [The author's conviction on this day of New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/the-author-s-conviction-on-this-day-of-new-year-is-that-music-begins/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [In case I conk out, this is provisionally what I have to do: I must clarify obscurities; I must make clearer definite ideas or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/in-case-i-conk-out-this-is-provisionally-what-i-have-to-do-i-must/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [“Adolf Hitler was a Jeanne d'Arc, a saint. He was a martyr.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/adolf-hitler-was-a-jeanne-d-arc-a-saint-he-was-a-martyr/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [I could I trust starve like a gentleman. It's listed as part of the poetic training, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/i-could-i-trust-starve-like-a-gentleman-it-s-listed-as-part-of-the/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) [Explore all 273 Ezra Pound quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) ## More Cooling quotes > [I was born imagining myself with an apron on, with pies cooling on the window sill and babies crying upstairs. I thought that all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-fisher/i-was-born-imagining-myself-with-an-apron-on-with-pies-cooling-on-the/) [Carrie Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-fisher/) > [For Al Gore and Paul Ehrlich and Co., whatever the problem, the solution is always the same. Whether it's global cooling, global warming, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/for-al-gore-and-paul-ehrlich-and-co-whatever-the-problem-the-solution/) [Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/) > [Let the desert wind cool your aching head. Let the weight of the world - drift away instead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beck/let-the-desert-wind-cool-your-aching-head-let-the-weight-of-the-world/) [Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beck/) > [It infuriated him to think that there were still people in the state who believed in a loving and merciful God. There are mystics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/it-infuriated-him-to-think-that-there-were-still-people-in-the-state/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [So God stepped over to the edge of the world And He spat out the seven seas; He batted His eyes, and the lightnings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-weldon-johnson/so-god-stepped-over-to-the-edge-of-the-world-and-he-spat-out-the/) [James Weldon Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-weldon-johnson/) > [My uncertain temper is cooling, as is my sense of racing against time to accomplish the things I want to. I don't have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-lamarsh/my-uncertain-temper-is-cooling-as-is-my-sense-of-racing-against-time/) [Judy LaMarsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-lamarsh/) > [It is well known that strong to violent tornado activity in the US has decreased markedly since statistics began in the 1950s, which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-spencer/it-is-well-known-that-strong-to-violent-tornado-activity-in-the-us/) [Roy Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-spencer/) > [This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/this-is-no-time-to-engage-in-the-luxury-of-cooling-off-or-to-take-the/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [We should be looking at putting a limit on the interest that can be charged on things like store cards.You don't want to end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-osborne/we-should-be-looking-at-putting-a-limit-on-the-interest-that-can-be/) [George Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-osborne/) > [So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/so-we-drove-on-toward-death-through-the-cooling-twilight/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Overall, The Population Bomb was probably too optimistic. I was writing about climate change - Anne and I actually wrote the book. We discussed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-r-ehrlich/overall-the-population-bomb-was-probably-too-optimistic-i-was-writing/) [Paul R. Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-r-ehrlich/) > [There is no strong evidence to prove significant human influence on climate on a global basis. The global cooling trend from 1940 to 1970…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-stilbs/there-is-no-strong-evidence-to-prove-significant-human-influence-on/) Peter Stilbs > [There is no problem with global warming. It stopped in 1998. The last two years of global cooling have erased nearly 30 years of temperature increase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-plimer/there-is-no-problem-with-global-warming-it-stopped-in-1998-the-last/) [Ian Plimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-plimer/) > [This grossness, physical love, which is actually the biological cooling system, is very essential. The prana feeds the tattvas and the tattvas create the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harbhajan-singh-yogi/this-grossness-physical-love-which-is-actually-the-biological-cooling/) [Harbhajan Singh Yogi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harbhajan-singh-yogi/) > [the test of a cook is how she boils an egg. My boiled eggs are fantastic, fabulous. Sometimes as hard as a 100 carat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-mitford/the-test-of-a-cook-is-how-she-boils-an-egg-my-boiled-eggs-are/) [Nancy Mitford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-mitford/) Browse all 88 Cooling quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, O my much praised but-not-altogether-satisfactory lady.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ezra Pound" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain-when-the-hot-water-gives-out/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cooling" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain-when-the-hot-water-gives-out/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42e/ezra-pound-1208_cooling_as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain_1174125.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, So is the slow cooling…” — Ezra Pound", "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": "Ezra Pound", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As a bathtub lined with white...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain-when-the-hot-water-gives-out/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/as-a-bathtub-lined-with-white-porcelain-when-the-hot-water-gives-out/#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 } } ] } ```