Quotes About Support

For that, surely, is what friendship is all about–about the giving of love and the assurance of love.

Words were the very first bandage for any wound.

They're always helpful, those people. Which people? asked Ulf. Librarians. They know everything.

What else do you need in life, Mma? You have a fine husband—which is one of the most important things that anybody can have.

I am grateful to you for being who you are: for standing up for ladies with large glasses and a bad skin and for everybody else who has had to battle to get where they have got. And most of all I am grateful to you for being my friend, Mma; I am grateful to you for that. That is the best thing that anybody can be to anybody else--a friend.

Mrs. Moffat had taken her hand, for comfort, and they had sat there in silence for a while. Sometimes it seemed as if the world itself was broken, that there was something wrong with all of us, something broken in such a way that it might not be put together again; but the holding of hands, human hand in human hand, could help, could make the world seem less broken.

She meant it, and as she spoke, she thought how strange it was that we so very rarely said complimentary things to our friends, and how easy it was to do so, and how it made the world seem a less harsh place.

But it seemed to her that Mma Ramotswe needed persuading, and so she continued, "What else do you need in life, Mma? You have a fine husband—which is one of the most important things that anybody can have.

Be gentle...Many of the people who will come to see you are injured in spirit. They need to talk about things that have hurt them, or about things that they have done. Do not sit in judgement on them, but listen. Just listen.

We have always asked too much of women in this country. They hold up the sky on their shoulders.

Love and compassion are the only balm

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni had been uncertain what to say. He wondered whether he should ask Mma Ramotswe why she had not consulted him, but decided against it. If husbands started to question their wives' decisions, then where would it end, and what purpose would it serve? You could not undo what your wife had done.

A kind word, a word of encouragement or admiration, could shift the heaviest, most recalcitrant baggage.

It's important to be able to accept,' Brother Gregory said. He glanced at Bruce in an encouraging way. There was no hint of reproach in his voice; just warmth. 'Some of us find that hard – I know that – but graciousness in accepting the help of others

You had to look after other people because if you did not, then the world was a cold and lonely place, a place where, if you stumbled, there would be no hand to pull you to your feet.

There was no point in telling somebody not to cry, she had always thought; indeed there were times when you should do exactly the opposite, when you should urge people to cry, to start the healing that sometimes only tears can bring. But if there was a place for tears of relief, there might even be a place for tears of pride[.]

You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life. That principle allowed you to deal with the suffering you saw. That was your suffering. Other people would have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, came across.

Mothers need to be ambitious for their children otherwise. . .well, nobody would ever learn the piano.

was particularly hard for women now, when there were so many children left without

A society that undermined its teachers and their authority only dug away at its own sure foundations.

We do need somebody else in this life, thought Mma Ramotswe; we need a person whom we can make our little god on this earth, as the old Kgatla saying had it. Whether it was a spouse, or a child, or a parent, or anybody else for that matter, there must be somebody who gives our lives purpose.

It is better to tell people good things, Mma—if you can.

Like so many women, her life seemed to be all about the needs of others. Auden had said something about that, she reminded herself—something witty. We are here on this earth to help others, but he had no idea why the others were here.

Now that you are going to be my wife, I must teach you what wives are for" (pg.53)