--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Last night, there was a moment before you…" description: "\"“Last night, there was a moment before you got into bed. You stood, quite naked, bending forward a little - talking. It was only for an instant. I saw ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c8/katherine-mansfield-1781_cold-wind_last-night-there-was-a-moment-before-you_1442040.jpg" --- # Last night, there was a moment before you got into bed… ![“Last night, there was a moment before you got into bed. You stood, quite naked, bending forward a little - talking. It was only for an instant. I saw you - I loved you so - loved your body with such tenderness - Ah my dear - And I am not thinking now of ‘passion.’ No, of that other thing that…” quote by Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c8/katherine-mansfield-1781_cold-wind_last-night-there-was-a-moment-before-you_1442040.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c8/katherine-mansfield-1781_cold-wind_last-night-there-was-a-moment-before-you_1442040.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c8/katherine-mansfield-1781_cold-wind_last-night-there-was-a-moment-before-you_1442040.jpg) > ““Last night, there was a moment before you got into bed. You stood, quite naked, bending forward a little - talking. It was only for an instant. I saw you - I loved you so - loved your body with such tenderness - Ah my dear - And I am not thinking now of ‘passion.’ No, of that other thing that makes me feel that every inch of you is so precious to me. Your soft shoulders - your creamy warm skin, your ears, cold like shells are cold - your long legs and your feet that I love to clasp with my feet - the feeling of your belly - & your thin young back - Just below that bone that sticks out at the back of your neck you have a little mole. It is partly because we are young that I feel this tenderness - I love your youth - I could not bear that it should be touched even by a cold wind if I were the Lord.”” [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A fleeting, tender moment of love and admiration for another’s physical and youthful presence, beyond sexual desire. **In simple terms:** A brief, tender appreciation of a loved one’s body and youth. Key Takeaway Cherish gentle, non‑sexual affection. Themes love intimacy nostalgia youth Mood intimate reflective Type literary emotional When to use this quote - personal relationships - poetic reflection - artistic expression Key Concepts sensory detail emotional intimacy Questions to Reflect On - What does this tenderness reveal about the narrator’s values? - How can we express love without sexual expectations? A Different Perspective Such tenderness can be misread as erotic or inappropriate. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cold wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold-wind/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Tenderness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tenderness/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“It bothered me to hear other people call her beautiful, say they loved her body. 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"My Love... from the beginning of time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-ryan/he-kissed-her-temple-her-hair-and-then-her-mouth-again-with-great/) [Patricia Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-ryan/) > [I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/i-did-not-believe-him-capable-of-love-that-is-an-emotion-in-which/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [The pleasures and the cares of the luckiest ambition, even of limitless power, are nothing next to the intimate happiness that tenderness and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stendhal/the-pleasures-and-the-cares-of-the-luckiest-ambition-even-of/) [Stendhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stendhal/) ## More by Katherine Mansfield > [“Shadow children, thin and small, Now the day is left behind, You are dancing on the wall, On the curtains, on the blind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/shadow-children-thin-and-small-now-the-day-is-left-behind-you-are/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [“Oh, with you, I could conquer the world - oh, with you I could catch hold of the moon like a little silver sixpence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/oh-with-you-i-could-conquer-the-world-oh-with-you-i-could-catch-hold/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [“I have made it a rule of my life never to regret and never to look back. 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I want the feeling of it on my face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/i-love-the-rain-i-want-the-feeling-of-it-on-my-face/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [England is merely an island of beef swimming in a warm gulf stream of gravy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/england-is-merely-an-island-of-beef-swimming-in-a-warm-gulf-stream-of/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [Perhaps it does not matter so very much what it is one loves in this world. 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You planted that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/i-used-to-believe-i-was-merely-words-and-i-do-not-know-whether-i/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) > [To be alive and to be a ‘writer’ is enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mansfield/to-be-alive-and-to-be-a-writer-is-enough/) [Katherine Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) [Explore all 199 Katherine Mansfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mansfield/) ## More Cold wind quotes > [“Reading is like skiing. When done well, when done by an expert, both reading and skiing are graceful, harmonious, activities. When done by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-j-adler/reading-is-like-skiing-when-done-well-when-done-by-an-expert-both/) [Mortimer J. Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-j-adler/) > [“Feel no regret for roses, autumn too has its delights...How could she say that? 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It sighed up through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-beaumont/a-cold-wind-raced-across-the-surrounding-fields-of-wild-grass-turning/) [Charles Beaumont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-beaumont/) > [I'm into the lyrical side of rap. I listen to some old Eminem songs and think, 'Wow, he's a genius.' He's one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-tonkin/i-m-into-the-lyrical-side-of-rap-i-listen-to-some-old-eminem-songs/) [Phoebe Tonkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-tonkin/) > [A lone maple leaf resting on sand Have you ever been out for a late autumn walk in the closing part of the afternoon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-leacock/a-lone-maple-leaf-resting-on-sand-have-you-ever-been-out-for-a-late/) [Stephen Leacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-leacock/) > [“I am the icy push of immortality through your veins. I am the grave-wrought hand around your heart. 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