Quotes About Ambivalence

Knowledge work exchanges this clarity for ambiguity. It can be hard to define exactly what a given knowledge worker does and how it differs from another

Men chase by night those they will not greet by day.

She is certain[ly] very clever, in a doubtful sense of the word.

Professor Rowe brings into focus the great internal conflict for such people, explaining that they "certainly do not want to lose, but may also be unable to stand winning, in the conventional way, since that would mean the fight is over.

I know what I did to you was so wrong, but at the time it also felt so necessary to my survival. I don't know if those two things can both be true, but that's how it was.

The politeness was painful. I wanted to push through it, to return to the glow of the night of the concert, but I was unsure of how to get back there.

I should be elated. I should be relieved. But, weirdly, all I feel is let down. Beacuse this matters to me now. And something tells me if it matters, maybe it shouldn't be easy.

When I'd looked back up at the window, the white curtain flapping in the gusty breeze, I'd felt both sadness and relief, the oppositional tug of heaviness and lightness, one lifting me up, one pushing me down. I understood then, Lulu and I had started something, something I'd always wanted, but also something I was scared of getting. Something ai wanted more of. And, also, something I wanted to get away from. The truth and its opposite.

edible. But I still hated the shows and hated myself for hating them. The clubs were smoky, which hurt my eyes and made my clothes stink. The speakers were always turned up so high that the music blared, causing my ears to ring so

That has nothing to do with me.' I managed to croak. It couldn't. But part of me kind of hoped that it did.

I am always on the edge of what I am doing. I do everything badly, sloppily, to get it over with so that I can get on to the next thing that I will do badly and sloppily so that I can then do nothing - which I do anxiously, distractedly, wondering all the time if there isn't something else I should be getting on with.

Never try to get into society, so-called. Those who try seldom get in, and if they do edge through the portals they always feel clammy and unworthy when under the scrutiny of the elect. Sit outside and appear indifferent, and after a while they may sent for you. If not, it will be money in your pocket.

No whim of fate, no Freudian trauma, no loss of a loved one will be as devastating to the human spirit as some prolonged ambivalent relationship that leaves us forever unable to say goodbye.

In her insightful Of Woman Born (1976), Adrienne Rich said it very eloquently: "My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness.

Was it unpleasant? I don't know, I said. Everything is so unpleasant nowadays it's hard to tell.

Of course I love Arnold, but I can hate him too, and it can go along with love that one never forgives certain things.

Why after two years at that university, he left to study sociology in Birmingham, no one knew clearly. He suddenly, as he said, 'couldn't stand Cambridge'. He wanted to get closer to something — perhaps life. But life continued to reject him.

There are those who, even if valued, remain sinister witnesses from the past. James is for me such a witness. It is not even clear whether we like each other. If I were told today that James was dead my first emotion might be pleasurable; though how much does this prove?

Mi problema consiste en que siempre que percibo o hago realidad algo que creía que quería, sea una novia, un piso, un empleo, educación, dinero y así sucesivamente, simplemente me parece tan aburrido y estéril, que ya no lo puedo valorar.

ye always want what ye cannae have and the things that ye dinnae really gie a toss aboot get handed tae ye oan a plate.

It could have been suicide or an accident, or perhaps that grey area in between.

There's no fear or regret but no elation or sense of triumph either. It's just a job that had to be done.

There is nothing straight about you; no motive that hasn't another behind it; no statement that hasn't three meanings.

Todo tiembla bajo nuestros pies, no conocemos seguridades, si nos preguntan cómo estamos, la respuesta es «sin novedad» o «más o menos»; nos movemos de una incertidumbre a otra, caminamos cautelosos en una región de claroscuros, nada es preciso, no nos gustan los enfrentamientos, preferimos negociar.