Quotes About Understanding

Sometimes I couldn't figure it out, what all the living was for.

I have since wondered if a person can know how deep a thing goes without getting outside of it, without taking it apart, without, in fact, ruining it.

It was about forgiving. I understood that forgiveness itself was strong, durable—like strands of a web weaving around us, holding us.

I knew that we were two humans, that's all, two humans walking around blindly in the night, looking for a warm hand.

When red fires blaze in the mountains, why would one need more dry wood? When great rivers are already swollen with water, what need could there be for a heavy rain? When there is already discord between countries, why stir up further turmoil?

I can tell just by looking at her that she needs to know she can push me and that when she does, I won't crumple. I know the look by now. Submissive women who crave dominance need this from time to time, and Diana's no exception. I've likened it to a blind man finding his way in an unfamiliar room; once he knows where the walls are, his boundaries, he can move more freely.

Do not follow the ancient masters, seek what they sought.

Perimeter is not meaning, but it changes meaning,/as wit increases distance, and compassion erodes it.

The griefs of others—beautiful, at a distance.

from "Nine Pebbles" Library Book with Many Precisely Turned-Down Corners I unfold carefully the thoughts of one who has come before me, the way a listening dog's ears may be seen lifting to some sound beyond its person's quite understanding

How close to human must the breathed-in air come before it develops a sense of shame or humor?

There is no dwelling in past, present or future and one is able to see the world without any pre-conceptions.

Words are not the highest reality, nor' what is expressed in words the highest reality. Why? Because the highest reality is an experience which cannot be entered into by means of statements' regarding it. Poetry and visual symbols come much closer to reality. The mind must be in a state of wisdom to understand wisdom.

Paradoxically, if we accept our own suffering and fully relate it with the suffering of others, we transform that pain into a means of liberation.

Anthropology was the science that gave her the platform from which she surveyed, scolded and beamed at the world.

The attitude of neutrality allows grandparents to listen to the teenager without the emotional baggage their parents carry. And if we listen carefully, we may be able to glimpse what the teenager is going through.

Mindful of the boundaries between us and our grown children, we make the effort to take the differences between us less personally

I am the one whose love overcomes you, already with you when you think to call my name.

they listened to understand rather than to respond.

After a day of watching the two-legs interact from within their midst, she was certain that they could talk as well as any wolf. Unlike wolves, however, they mostly used their mouths, a thing she found limiting. How could you tell someone to keep away from your food when your own mouth was full?

What if the only non-humans the two-legs know," she mused, "are the Cousin-kind? How stupid they would believe all others who walk the earth to be!

words used wrong are like poison.

I want to tell you everything without saying anything." (118)

Yes, children need to learn patience, but parents need to be patient long enough to let them learn.