"He had never before seen a woman’s lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow. Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no—they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity."
Thomas Hardy

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

Sources

Phase the Third: The Rally, ch. XXIV

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy