--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Love has many positionings. Cordelia…" description: "\"“Love has many positionings. Cordelia makes good progress. She is sitting on my lap, her arm twines, soft and warm, round my neck; she leans upon my br..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg" --- # Love has many positionings. Cordelia makes good progress… ![“Love has many positionings. Cordelia makes good progress. She is sitting on my lap, her arm twines, soft and warm, round my neck; she leans upon my breast, light, without gravity; the soft contours scarcely touch me; like a flower her lovely figure twines about me, freely as a ribbon. Her eyes are…” quote by Søren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg) > ““Love has many positionings. Cordelia makes good progress. She is sitting on my lap, her arm twines, soft and warm, round my neck; she leans upon my breast, light, without gravity; the soft contours scarcely touch me; like a flower her lovely figure twines about me, freely as a ribbon. Her eyes are hidden beneath her lashes, her bosom is dazzling white like snow, so smooth that my eye cannot rest, it would glance off if her bosom were not moving. What does this movement mean? Is it love? Perhaps. It is a presentiment of it, its dream. It still lacks energy. Her embrace is comprehensive, as the cloud enfolding the transfigured one, detached as a breeze, soft as the fondling of a flower; she kisses me unspecifically, as the sky kisses the sea, gently and quietly, as the dew kisses a flower, solemnly as the sea kisses the image of the moon. I would call her passion at this moment a naive passion. When the change has been made and I begin to draw back in earnest, she will call on everything she has to captivate me. She has no other means for this purpose than the erotic itself, except that this will now appear on a quite different scale. It then becomes a weapon in her hand which she wields against me. I then have the reflected passion. She fights for her own sake because she knows I possess the erotic; she fights for her own sake so as to overcome me. She herself is in need of a higher form of the erotic. What I taught her to suspect by arousing her, my coldness now teaches her to understand but in such a way that she thinks it is she herself who discovers it. So she wants to take me by surprise; she wants to believe that she has outstripped me in audacity, and that makes me her prisoner. Her passion then becomes specific, energetic, conclusive, dialectical; her kiss total, her embrace without hesitation.—In me she seeks her freedom and finds it the better the more firmly I encompass her. The engagement bursts. When that has happened she needs a little rest, so that nothing unseemly will emerge from this wild tumult. Her passion then composes itself once more and she is mine.” —from\_Either/Or: A Fragment of Life\_, (as written by his pseudonym Johannes the Seducer)”” [Søren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-ren-kierkegaard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A lover’s early affection is gentle, vague, and exploratory, lacking decisive energy, yet it can become a powerful, confrontational force when desire intensifies. **In simple terms:** Early love is soft and uncertain, later becoming intense and confrontational. Key Takeaway Recognize the shift from gentle affection to assertive desire. Themes love desire power dynamics self‑discovery freedom Mood intense reflective complex Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - intimate relationships - personal growth - sexual dynamics - emotional negotiation Key Concepts ergoticism dialectic psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does gentle affection evolve into assertive desire? - When does desire become a weapon? A Different Perspective The initial softness may mask underlying power struggles and can become manipulative. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Erotic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/erotic/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Seduction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seduction/) ## Related quotes > [“I am poor—you are my riches; dark—you are my light; I own nothing, need nothing. And how could I own anything? After all, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ren-kierkegaard/i-am-poor-you-are-my-riches-dark-you-are-my-light-i-own-nothing-need/) [Søren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-ren-kierkegaard/) > [“Love is everything. 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Cordelia makes good progress. She is sitting on my lap, her arm twines, soft and warm, round my neck; she leans upon my breast, light, without gravity; the soft contours scarcely touch me; like a flower her lovely figure twines about me, freely as a ribbon. Her eyes are hidden beneath her lashes, her bosom is dazzling white like snow, so smooth that my eye cannot rest, it would glance off if her bosom were not moving. What does this movement mean? Is it love? Perhaps. It is a presentiment of it, its dream. It still lacks energy. Her embrace is comprehensive, as the cloud enfolding the transfigured one, detached as a breeze, soft as the fondling of a flower; she kisses me unspecifically, as the sky kisses the sea, gently and quietly, as the dew kisses a flower, solemnly as the sea kisses the image of the moon. I would call her passion at this moment a naive passion. When the change has been made and I begin to draw back in earnest, she will call on everything she has to captivate me. She has no other means for this purpose than the erotic itself, except that this will now appear on a quite different scale. It then becomes a weapon in her hand which she wields against me. I then have the reflected passion. She fights for her own sake because she knows I possess the erotic; she fights for her own sake so as to overcome me. She herself is in need of a higher form of the erotic. What I taught her to suspect by arousing her, my coldness now teaches her to understand but in such a way that she thinks it is she herself who discovers it. So she wants to take me by surprise; she wants to believe that she has outstripped me in audacity, and that makes me her prisoner. Her passion then becomes specific, energetic, conclusive, dialectical; her kiss total, her embrace without hesitation.—In me she seeks her freedom and finds it the better the more firmly I encompass her. The engagement bursts. When that has happened she needs a little rest, so that nothing unseemly will emerge from this wild tumult. Her passion then composes itself once more and she is mine.” —from_Either/Or: A Fragment of Life_, (as written by his pseudonym Johannes the Seducer)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Søren Kierkegaard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ren-kierkegaard/love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-makes-good-progress-she-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Erotic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ren-kierkegaard/love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-makes-good-progress-she-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff3/s-ren-kierkegaard-1686_kierkegaard_love-has-many-positionings-cordelia-make_831260.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Love has many positionings. 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