SHITTEN COME SHITES is the beginning of love

Meaning & Analysis

The archaic phrase suggests a cycle of foulness or mutual unpleasantness. The proverb literally and paradoxically states that this state of shared baseness or imperfection is the origin of love.

Insights

Acceptance of Flaws

Suggests that true love begins not with idealized perfection, but with the mutual acceptance of each other's most unattractive and 'shameful' qualities.

Shared Vulnerability

Implies that love can arise from a shared state of hardship or indignity, where a bond is formed through mutual understanding of life's unpleasant realities.

Radical Authenticity

Acts as a cynical rejection of romantic ideals, proposing that genuine connection starts from a place of raw, unfiltered, and even grotesque honesty, rather than a curated facade.

Psychological Realism

Captures the psychological truth that deep intimacy is often forged when individuals feel safe enough to reveal their 'messy' or flawed selves, turning vulnerability into a foundation for connection.

Subversion of Romance

The proverb's vulgarity deliberately subverts the idealized, poetic conventions of courtly love, offering a more earthy, cynical, and arguably realistic perspective on the origins of human affection.

Power of Vulgarity

Its shocking, scatological language is a rhetorical strategy to strip away pretense and sentimentality, forcing a visceral confrontation with the less savory aspects of human nature and relationships.

Rhetorical Devices

Paradox

Creates a startling paradox by equating a repulsive, vulgar state ('Shitten come shites') with the cherished, idealized emotion of love, forcing a deeper reflection on its meaning.

Juxtaposition

The proverb's impact derives from the extreme juxtaposition of base, scatological imagery with the profound concept of love's beginning.

Low Diction

The use of archaic, vulgar terms ('shitten,' 'shites') grounds the proverb in a raw, physical reality, challenging sanitized or romanticized notions of relationships.

loveimperfectionauthenticityparadoxvulgarityrealism
Analyzed with gemini-2.5-pro on November 24, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

1659, HOW., Eng. Prov., p. 6.

Original Scan

SHITTEN COME SHITES is the beginning of love - a scanned entry from Tilley's 1950 Dictionary of Proverbs.
Scan courtesy of HathiTrust Digital Library.
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.

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Last updated: January 27, 2026