--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I had discovered that love might be a…" description: "\"I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a tragedy, and I gave myself to it with pagan innocence.\" — Isadora Duncan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg" --- # I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a… ![“I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a tragedy, and I gave myself to it with pagan innocence.” quote by Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg) > “I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a tragedy, and I gave myself to it with pagan innocence.” [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love can be both a fleeting diversion and a deep sorrow, yet one embraces it naïvely. **In simple terms:** Love can be fun and sad, yet we dive in naïvely. Key Takeaway Embrace love wisely, aware of its dual nature. Themes love naïveté duality passion tragedy Mood melancholy reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - first love - relationships - artistic inspiration - personal growth Key Concepts Romanticism existentialism human vulnerability Questions to Reflect On - Do you accept love’s risks? - How does naïveté shape your relationships? A Different Perspective Love’s allure may blind us to its risks. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Innocence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Pagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pagan/) [Tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragedy/) ## Related quotes > [“Now she had discovered that to be in love was even more wonderful. It was as though every weight had been removed from her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-greenwood/now-she-had-discovered-that-to-be-in-love-was-even-more-wonderful-it/) [Leigh Greenwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-greenwood/) > [“..Window panes that rattled under the lash of the wind for two months on end, rain that leaked beneath the doors, her husband out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niall-williams/window-panes-that-rattled-under-the-lash-of-the-wind-for-two-months/) [Niall Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niall-williams/) > [Over time I've discovered that with my love there is no such thing as lost love. When I give it and it doesn't come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/over-time-i-ve-discovered-that-with-my-love-there-is-no-such-thing-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She had discovered that her love of knowing was not unnatural or sinful but the direct consequence of a God-given ability to reason.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-woolfolk-cross/she-had-discovered-that-her-love-of-knowing-was-not-unnatural-or/) [Donna Woolfolk Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-woolfolk-cross/) > [I guess I don't know if I'm comfortable with fame or touring or promo or any of that stuff, and I really discovered that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sia/i-guess-i-don-t-know-if-i-m-comfortable-with-fame-or-touring-or-promo/) [Sia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sia/) > [“He was a man who discovered love through his penis.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/he-was-a-man-who-discovered-love-through-his-penis/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [“When I saw you, I discovered love!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avijeet-das/when-i-saw-you-i-discovered-love/) [Avijeet Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avijeet-das/) > [In Lilly's eyes her beautiful clear water eyes there is what I have sought and never found, wanted and never had, hoped for and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-frey/in-lilly-s-eyes-her-beautiful-clear-water-eyes-there-is-what-i-have/) [James Frey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-frey/) > [I discovered that I love being on stage in high school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sterling-k-brown/i-discovered-that-i-love-being-on-stage-in-high-school/) [Sterling K. Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sterling-k-brown/) > [“When my trust was suspended from the fragile thread of justice and in the whole city they were chopping up my heart's lanterns when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/forough-farrokhzad/when-my-trust-was-suspended-from-the-fragile-thread-of-justice-and-in/) Forough Farrokhzad > [“Together, in that room, our childhood notions of love melted away. We discovered love was not a fairytale. Sometimes there were no happy endings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cristina-marrero/together-in-that-room-our-childhood-notions-of-love-melted-away-we/) [Cristina Marrero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cristina-marrero/) > [It is youth that has discovered love as a weapon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ustinov/it-is-youth-that-has-discovered-love-as-a-weapon/) [Peter Ustinov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ustinov/) > [“Now she had discovered that to be in love was even more wonderful. It was as though every weight had been removed from her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-greenwood/now-she-had-discovered-that-to-be-in-love-was-even-more-wonderful-it-2/) [Leigh Greenwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-greenwood/) > [ Through \[my friends\] I discovered what it was to love people. There was an art to it...which was not really all that different from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-grealy/through-my-friends-i-discovered-what-it-was-to-love-people-there-was/) [Lucy Grealy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-grealy/) > [One day I woke up and discovered that I was in love with tripe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-anderson/one-day-i-woke-up-and-discovered-that-i-was-in-love-with-tripe/) [Tom Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-anderson/) ## More by Isadora Duncan > [Art is not necessary at all. All that is necessary to make this world a better place to live in is to love -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/art-is-not-necessary-at-all-all-that-is-necessary-to-make-this-world/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [My art is just an effort to express the truth of my being in gesture and movement. It has taken me long years to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/my-art-is-just-an-effort-to-express-the-truth-of-my-being-in-gesture/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [Man must speak, then sing, then dance. The speaking is the brain, the thinking man. The singing is the emotion. The dancing is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/man-must-speak-then-sing-then-dance-the-speaking-is-the-brain-the/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [All my life I have struggled to make one authentic gesture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/all-my-life-i-have-struggled-to-make-one-authentic-gesture/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [I intend to work for this dance of the future. I do not know whether I have the necessary qualities; I may have neither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-intend-to-work-for-this-dance-of-the-future-i-do-not-know-whether-i/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [The only dance masters I could have were Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Walt Whitman and Nietzsche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/the-only-dance-masters-i-could-have-were-jean-jacques-rousseau-walt/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [The dancer will not belong to a nation but to all humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/the-dancer-will-not-belong-to-a-nation-but-to-all-humanity/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [Dancing: The Highest Intelligence in the Freest Body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/dancing-the-highest-intelligence-in-the-freest-body/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [All my lovers have been geniuses; it's the one thing that I insist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/all-my-lovers-have-been-geniuses-it-s-the-one-thing-that-i-insist/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [I have only danced my life. As a child I danced the spontaneous joy of growing things. As an adolescent, I danced with joy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-have-only-danced-my-life-as-a-child-i-danced-the-spontaneous-joy-of/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [When I was sixteen, I danced before an audience without music. At the end someone suddenly cried 'its Death and the Maiden'. But that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/when-i-was-sixteen-i-danced-before-an-audience-without-music-at-the/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [It is unheard-of, uncivilized barbarism that any woman should still be forced to bear such monstrous torture. It should be remedied. It should be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/it-is-unheard-of-uncivilized-barbarism-that-any-woman-should-still-be/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [The dancer will not belong to any nation but to all humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/the-dancer-will-not-belong-to-any-nation-but-to-all-humanity/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [To awaken human emotion is the highest level of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/to-awaken-human-emotion-is-the-highest-level-of-art/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of her soul...This is the truly creative dancer, natural but not imitative, speaking in movement out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/the-dancer-s-body-is-simply-the-luminous-manifestation-of-her-soul/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) [Explore all 92 Isadora Duncan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) ## More Innocence quotes > [Children, Never look Back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory . for children have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/children-never-look-back-and-this-meant-that-we-must-never-allow-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [It's still possible to savor the remarkable foods that millennia of human ingenuity have teased from milk. A sip of milk itself or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-mcgee/it-s-still-possible-to-savor-the-remarkable-foods-that-millennia-of/) Harold McGee > [You've had a whole lot of experience, but everything is also radically new at each moment, and you have to bring a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/you-ve-had-a-whole-lot-of-experience-but-everything-is-also-radically/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [It had never occurred to Giles that there was something perfectly sensible about wanting to hold onto innocence. He had always gone in for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-had-never-occurred-to-giles-that-there-was-something-perfectly/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Let us not subside into a single mandatory way of thinking or feeling, immersed by a spirit of self-gratification. But let’s dig into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/let-us-not-subside-into-a-single-mandatory-way-of-thinking-or-feeling/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [I don't think that on a daily basis, people need to be so concerned with others think. When someone comes forward and is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-goreski/i-don-t-think-that-on-a-daily-basis-people-need-to-be-so-concerned/) [Brad Goreski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-goreski/) > [ “...under no circumstances would he \[Humbert Humbert\] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/under-no-circumstances-would-he-humbert-humbert-have-interfered-with/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is one of the most vicious crimes conceivable, a violation of mankind's most basic duty to protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-t-walsh/the-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation-of-children-is-one-of-the-most/) [James T. Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-t-walsh/) > [The decision of such judges as Claudius and his Senate is worth very little in the question of a man's innocence or guilt; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-decision-of-such-judges-as-claudius-and-his-senate-is-worth-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is innocence - stupidity comes with experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amos-bronson-alcott/ignorance-is-innocence-stupidity-comes-with-experience/) [Amos Bronson Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amos-bronson-alcott/) > [Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-golding/ralph-wept-for-the-end-of-innocence-the-darkness-of-man-s-heart-and/) [William Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-golding/) > [There could never be innocence in a world without justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-bowler/there-could-never-be-innocence-in-a-world-without-justice/) [Tim Bowler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-bowler/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“In every guilty man, there is an element of innocence. This is what makes any absolute condemnation revolting. We do not think enough about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-zaretsky/in-every-guilty-man-there-is-an-element-of-innocence-this-is-what/) [Robert Zaretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-zaretsky/) > [“Ô, Wanderess, Wanderess When did you feel your most euphoric kiss? Was I the source of your greatest bliss?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roman-payne/wanderess-wanderess-when-did-you-feel-your-most-euphoric-kiss-was-i/) [Roman Payne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roman-payne/) [Browse all 1,629 Innocence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a tragedy, and I gave myself to it with pagan innocence.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Isadora Duncan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pastime-as-well-as-a-tragedy/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Innocence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pastime-as-well-as-a-tragedy/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7b/isadora-duncan-7255_innocence_i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pa_1282982.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I had discovered that love might be a pastime as well as a tragedy, and I gave myself to it with pagan…” — Isadora Duncan", "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": "Isadora Duncan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I had discovered that love might...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pastime-as-well-as-a-tragedy/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/i-had-discovered-that-love-might-be-a-pastime-as-well-as-a-tragedy/#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 } } ] } ```