--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... chastity is not given once and for…" description: "\"... chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, wat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ef/joanna-russ-7942_chastity_chastity-is-not-given-once-and-for-all-l_3159725.jpg" --- # ... chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding… ![“... chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, watered, and trimmed anew, or soon there will be only brambles and wilderness.” quote by Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ef/joanna-russ-7942_chastity_chastity-is-not-given-once-and-for-all-l_3159725.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ef/joanna-russ-7942_chastity_chastity-is-not-given-once-and-for-all-l_3159725.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ef/joanna-russ-7942_chastity_chastity-is-not-given-once-and-for-all-l_3159725.jpg) > “... chastity is not given once and for all like a wedding ring that is put on never to be taken off, but is a garden which each day must be weeded, watered, and trimmed anew, or soon there will be only brambles and wilderness.” [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Chastity requires continual effort, like a garden that must be tended daily, otherwise it becomes wild. **In simple terms:** Maintaining chastity needs ongoing care. Key Takeaway Treat values as daily practices. Themes virtue discipline maintenance relationships Mood determined thoughtful Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - marriage - personal growth - spiritual practice - daily routine Key Concepts habit formation self‑control ongoing effort Questions to Reflect On - How do you sustain daily discipline? - What habits support your values? A Different Perspective Neglect can lead to loss of intended meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chastity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chastity/) [Each day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/each-day/) [Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) [Marriage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marriage/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Wedding ring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wedding-ring/) [Wilderness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wilderness/) ## Related quotes > [Weeded, hella conceited, if it ain't about money nigga I don't need it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wiz-khalifa/weeded-hella-conceited-if-it-ain-t-about-money-nigga-i-don-t-need-it/) [Wiz Khalifa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wiz-khalifa/) > [One does not lash hat lies at a distance. The foibles that we ridicule must at least be a little bit our own. Only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/one-does-not-lash-hat-lies-at-a-distance-the-foibles-that-we-ridicule/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Everything must go its own way. One has to plow in order to sow, one has to sow in order to harvest, and what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wladyslaw-stanislaw-reymont/everything-must-go-its-own-way-one-has-to-plow-in-order-to-sow-one/) [Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wladyslaw-stanislaw-reymont/) > [My garden is a slow work, pursued with love and I do not deny that I am proud of it. Forty years ago, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-monet/my-garden-is-a-slow-work-pursued-with-love-and-i-do-not-deny-that-i/) [Claude Monet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-monet/) > [“If we do not fit into scheme of things of nature we will be weeded out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tspkumar/if-we-do-not-fit-into-scheme-of-things-of-nature-we-will-be-weeded-out/) [tspkumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tspkumar/) > [When I was 16, the pot weeded out the men from the boys, there were the heads and the straights. 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I braced myself for her next scathing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-jensen/i-think-he-painted-the-way-he-did-i-answered-because-he-had-something/) [Melissa Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-jensen/) > [I get very nervous when I have to take my wedding ring off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-o-connell/i-get-very-nervous-when-i-have-to-take-my-wedding-ring-off/) [Jerry O'Connell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-o-connell/) > [ “I can do this,” \[Daemon\] crooned, slowly circling around her. “I can keep Dorothea and Hekatah off-balance enough to keep the others safe and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bishop/i-can-do-this-daemon-crooned-slowly-circling-around-her-i-can-keep/) [Anne Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bishop/) > [“I will make my own future, not predict it. I don’t need a charm to tell me what I hope will happen. I throw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippa-gregory/i-will-make-my-own-future-not-predict-it-i-don-t-need-a-charm-to-tell/) [Philippa Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippa-gregory/) > [Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/marriage-is-a-three-ring-circus-engagement-ring-wedding-ring-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) ## More by Joanna Russ > [“Thus in the bad days, in the dark swampy times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/thus-in-the-bad-days-in-the-dark-swampy-times/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“An as-yet-unpublished poet in Boulder, Colorado, once said to me that anything worth doing was worth doing badly. I may seem, in the foregoing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/an-as-yet-unpublished-poet-in-boulder-colorado-once-said-to-me-that/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“(Only God can make a tree and She seldom tries, nowadays.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/only-god-can-make-a-tree-and-she-seldom-tries-nowadays/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [ “The trouble with men is that they have limited minds. That's the trouble with women, too." \[ "Existence" (1975)\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/the-trouble-with-men-is-that-they-have-limited-minds-that-s-the/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“Until you learn better, you think that a landscaped world can't hurt you or please you, you needn't bother about its soul, you needn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/until-you-learn-better-you-think-that-a-landscaped-world-can-t-hurt/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [The techniques are all means of dealing with one simple idea: She wrote it. 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But persistence in ignorance is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/ignorance-is-not-bad-faith-but-persistence-in-ignorance-is/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“I had planned to consult with a Black colleague, but when I approached her in the hall she had a crowd of students about,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/i-had-planned-to-consult-with-a-black-colleague-but-when-i-approached/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [There are more whooping cranes in the United States of America than there are women in Congress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/there-are-more-whooping-cranes-in-the-united-states-of-america-than/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“Courage is willful hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/courage-is-willful-hope/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [The trouble with men is that they have limited minds. That's the trouble with women, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/the-trouble-with-men-is-that-they-have-limited-minds-that-s-the-2/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“I cannot get into this swamp or I will never get out; and if I start crying again I'll remember that I have no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/i-cannot-get-into-this-swamp-or-i-will-never-get-out-and-if-i-start/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [Science fiction, as I mentioned before, writes about what is neither impossible nor possible; the fact is that, when the question of possibility comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/science-fiction-as-i-mentioned-before-writes-about-what-is-neither/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [“Somewhere there is a book that says you ought to cry buckets of tears over yourself and love yourself with a passion and wrap…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/somewhere-there-is-a-book-that-says-you-ought-to-cry-buckets-of-tears/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) [Explore all 84 Joanna Russ quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) ## More Chastity quotes > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/it-is-as-foolish-to-make-experiments-upon-the-constancy-of-a-friend/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [But there is a beauty every girl has—a gift from God, as pure as the sunlight, and as sacred as life. It is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/but-there-is-a-beauty-every-girl-has-a-gift-from-god-as-pure-as-the/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [The soul whose bosom lust did never touch Is God's fair bride; and maiden's souls are such.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tertullian/the-soul-whose-bosom-lust-did-never-touch-is-god-s-fair-bride-and/) [Tertullian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tertullian/) > [Chastity is oftener owing to diffidence and shame, than to fortitude of reason or virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norm-macdonald/chastity-is-oftener-owing-to-diffidence-and-shame-than-to-fortitude/) [Norm MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norm-macdonald/) > [Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/give-me-chastity-and-continence-but-not-yet/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [It is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/it-is-not-always-from-valor-or-from-chastity-that-men-are-brave-and/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [Love clamors far more incessantly and passionately at a closed gate than an open one!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/love-clamors-far-more-incessantly-and-passionately-at-a-closed-gate/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [Reason and justice tell me there's more love for humanity in electricity and steam than in chastity and vegetarianism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/reason-and-justice-tell-me-there-s-more-love-for-humanity-in/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [I get a little angry about this highhanded scrapping of the look of things. What else have we to go by? How else can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-culkin-banning/i-get-a-little-angry-about-this-highhanded-scrapping-of-the-look-of/) [Margaret Culkin Banning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-culkin-banning/) > [Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague...Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-reuben-clark/let-us-avoid-debt-as-we-would-avoid-a-plague-let-every-head-of-every/) [J. Reuben Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-reuben-clark/) > [There is no true Latter-day Saint who would not rather bury a son or a daughter than to have him or her lose his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heber-j-grant/there-is-no-true-latter-day-saint-who-would-not-rather-bury-a-son-or/) [Heber J. Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heber-j-grant/) > [The Church has no double standard of morality. The moral code of heaven for both men and women is complete chastity before marriage and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/the-church-has-no-double-standard-of-morality-the-moral-code-of/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme heat kills, and so extreme cold: extreme love breeds satiety, and so extreme hatred; and too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-chapman/extremes-though-contrary-have-the-like-effects-extreme-heat-kills-and/) [George Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-chapman/) > [There is but one love of Jesus, as there is but one person in the poor - Jesus. 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