--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Only our love hath no decay; this, no…" description: "\"Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting da..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png" --- # Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor… ![“Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.” quote by John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png) > “Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.” [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love is timeless and unchanging, persisting beyond past and future. **In simple terms:** Love never fades. Key Takeaway Cherish lasting love. Themes eternal love timelessness spirituality Mood reflective hopeful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - marriage - long-term relationships - faith - legacy Key Concepts metaphysics poetry Questions to Reflect On - How does this view of love influence your relationships? - Can love truly be unchanged? A Different Perspective Love may be idealized and not reflect everyday reality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Decay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decay/) [Everlasting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everlasting/) [Everlasting Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everlasting-day-1303034/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Keeps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keeps/) [Keeps Everlasting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keeps-everlasting-4560997/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Our love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-love/) [Running](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/running/) [Tomorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tomorrow/) [Truly Keeps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truly-keeps-4560998/) [Yesterday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yesterday/) ## Related quotes > [All Kings, and all their favorites, All glory of honors, beauties, wits, The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass, Is elder by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-kings-and-all-their-favorites-all-glory-of-honors-beauties-wits/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Christ is the Morning Star, who, when the night of this world is past, gives to his saints the promise of the light of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/venerable-bede/christ-is-the-morning-star-who-when-the-night-of-this-world-is-past/) [Venerable Bede](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/venerable-bede/) > [Eternity is not an everlasting flux of time, but time is as a short parenthesis in a long period.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/eternity-is-not-an-everlasting-flux-of-time-but-time-is-as-a-short/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [And to 'scape stormy days, I choose an everlasting night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/and-to-scape-stormy-days-i-choose-an-everlasting-night/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [If we consider eternity, into that time never entered; eternity is not an everlasting flux of time, but time is as a short parenthesis…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/if-we-consider-eternity-into-that-time-never-entered-eternity-is-not/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/clare-i-want-to-tell-you-again-i-love-you-our-love-has-been-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The acid test of our love for God is obedience to His Word. The greatest ability is dependability. The test of your character is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-jones-sr/the-acid-test-of-our-love-for-god-is-obedience-to-his-word-the/) [Bob Jones, Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-jones-sr/) > [No deep and strong feeling, such as we may come across here and there in the world, is unmixed with compassion. The more we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/no-deep-and-strong-feeling-such-as-we-may-come-across-here-and-there/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [ \[If\] we can celebrate that in a way that celebrates our love for New England as well as our love for the Italian culture… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-batali/if-we-can-celebrate-that-in-a-way-that-celebrates-our-love-for-new/) [Mario Batali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-batali/) > [to understand our love they'd have to turn the world upside down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fulghum/to-understand-our-love-they-d-have-to-turn-the-world-upside-down/) [Robert Fulghum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fulghum/) > [How are we to account for the strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid which is so much involved in our love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-are-we-to-account-for-the-strange-human-craving-for-the-pleasure/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [At some point, we have each said through our tears, Im suffering for a love thats not worth it. We suffer because we feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/at-some-point-we-have-each-said-through-our-tears-im-suffering-for-a/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Our love was born outside the walls, in the wind, in the night, in the earth, and that's why the clay and the flower,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/our-love-was-born-outside-the-walls-in-the-wind-in-the-night-in-the/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [The less we show our love to a woman, Or please her less, and neglect our duty, The more we trap and ruin her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pushkin/the-less-we-show-our-love-to-a-woman-or-please-her-less-and-neglect/) [Alexander Pushkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pushkin/) > [The soul wanders in the dark, until it finds love. And so, wherever our love goes, there we find our soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-zimmerman/the-soul-wanders-in-the-dark-until-it-finds-love-and-so-wherever-our/) [Mary Zimmerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-zimmerman/) ## More by John Donne > [Our critical day is not the very day of our death; but the whole course of our life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/our-critical-day-is-not-the-very-day-of-our-death-but-the-whole/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-mankind-is-of-one-author-and-is-one-volume-when-one-man-dies-one/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [We study health, and we deliberate upon our meats and drink and air and exercises, and we hew and we polish every stone that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/we-study-health-and-we-deliberate-upon-our-meats-and-drink-and-air/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Various content To your eyes, ears, and tongue, and every part. If then your body go, what need you a heart?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/various-content-to-your-eyes-ears-and-tongue-and-every-part-if-then/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [“Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ; That I may rise,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/batter-my-heart-three-person-d-god-for-you-as-yet-but-knock-breathe/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Young men mend not their sight by using old men's spectacles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/young-men-mend-not-their-sight-by-using-old-men-s-spectacles/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [That which attempts to elevate the ugly to the level of beauty becomes neither; but an obscenity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/that-which-attempts-to-elevate-the-ugly-to-the-level-of-beauty/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [For I am every dead thing In whom love wrought new alchemy For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/for-i-am-every-dead-thing-in-whom-love-wrought-new-alchemy-for-his/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [As states subsist in part by keeping their weaknesses from being known, so is it the quiet of families to have their chancery and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/as-states-subsist-in-part-by-keeping-their-weaknesses-from-being/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [All Kings, and all their favorites, All glory of honors, beauties, wits, The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass, Is elder by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-kings-and-all-their-favorites-all-glory-of-honors-beauties-wits/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [On a huge hill, Cragged, and steep, Truth stands, and hee that will Reach her, about must, and about must goo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/on-a-huge-hill-cragged-and-steep-truth-stands-and-hee-that-will-reach/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [How many times go we to comedies, to masques, to places of great and noble resort, nay even to church only to see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/how-many-times-go-we-to-comedies-to-masques-to-places-of-great-and/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms, can make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/thou-art-slave-to-fate-chance-kings-and-desperate-men-and-dost-with/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) [Explore all 325 John Donne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## More Decay quotes > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One reason why my memory decays is that I have three cats, all so loving and insistent that they play cat's-cradle with every train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/one-reason-why-my-memory-decays-is-that-i-have-three-cats-all-so/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [I've always thought that the most extraordinary special effect you could do is to buy a child at the moment of its birth, sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/i-ve-always-thought-that-the-most-extraordinary-special-effect-you/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [We think literature is immortal, but even that decays and ultimately turns to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-farren/we-think-literature-is-immortal-but-even-that-decays-and-ultimately/) [Mick Farren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-farren/) > [Wise people are able to give themselves gracefully to seemingly contradictory experiences, because they know that they belong to different seasons of life, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/wise-people-are-able-to-give-themselves-gracefully-to-seemingly/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-ensouled-is-distinguished-from-the-unsouled-by-its-being-alive/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [It seems that the whole world is beginning to decay, and that its putrefaction has chosen to spread outward from here, from the land…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmina-khadra/it-seems-that-the-whole-world-is-beginning-to-decay-and-that-its/) [Yasmina Khadra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmina-khadra/) > [No government can be strong and flourishing while the national character is weak and degraded. A government must flourish and decay with its subjects;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-robbins-curtis/no-government-can-be-strong-and-flourishing-while-the-national/) [Benjamin Robbins Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-robbins-curtis/) > [But the grind has begun. The windows don’t open, and even the availability of near-constant jokes about Jews and Mormons fails to stem the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-eggers/but-the-grind-has-begun-the-windows-don-t-open-and-even-the/) [Dave Eggers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-eggers/) > [Cocaine decisions that you make today, will mean nothing later on when you get nose decay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/cocaine-decisions-that-you-make-today-will-mean-nothing-later-on-when/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [Youth should be radical. Youth should demand change in the world. Youth should not accept the old order if the world is to move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-allen-white/youth-should-be-radical-youth-should-demand-change-in-the-world-youth/) [William Allen White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-allen-white/) > [Waiting makes wine better; but waiting makes man decay! Don't wait because you have no time! Move fast!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/waiting-makes-wine-better-but-waiting-makes-man-decay-don-t-wait/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Without adventure all civilization is full of decay. Adventure rarely reaches its predetermined end. Columbus never reached China.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/without-adventure-all-civilization-is-full-of-decay-adventure-rarely/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [“Out of all its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/out-of-all-its-squalor-and-human-decay-its-eruptions-of-butchery/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 744 Decay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decay/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Donne" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomorrow-hath-nor-yesterday/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Decay" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomorrow-hath-nor-yesterday/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/john-donne-933_decay_only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomo_546883.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Only our love hath no decay; this, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday, running it never runs from us away, but…” — John Donne", "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": "John Donne", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Only our love hath no decay;...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomorrow-hath-nor-yesterday/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/only-our-love-hath-no-decay-this-no-tomorrow-hath-nor-yesterday/#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 } } ] } ```