Quotes About Understanding

No, love is never foolish. Or unnecessary.

It's funny how, oftentimes, the people you love the most are given the least margin for error.

Oh, what I want to do is hand my life over to someone else. That's all. And they could rearrange everything into something that would make sense.

Oh, why isn't there a Community Center for People Who Need a Little Something? If people would only tell the truth about the way they felt, it would be busy all the time. There could be folding chairs arranged in groups, people sitting there saying, "I don't know, I just wanted to come here for a while." I

Kids don't really see old people. A lot of people don't.

HE REMEMBERS NOW WITH SOMETHING LIKE A FULL-BODY FLUSH, HE REMEMBERS WHAT IT MEANS TO SHARE SOMETHING WITH SOMEONE, THE PARTICULAR ALCHEMY THAT CAN LIGHT THINGS UP.

The greatest understanding of a thing is when you can't reduce it any further.

You have so much love to give! But I feel like you're all the time digging in the tomato bin, saying, 'Where are the apples?' 

Well, you just don't seem very...proud of me. He started to say that he was, but she interrupted him, saying, Don't. It's like my saying you never say you love me, and your saying it then. It doesn't matter, then. It doesn't count.

I stood looking at it, and a thousand things occurred to me about the way that even in bitterness and confusion and anger, my parents love for each other endured. I saw that when I was looking at them, I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. They belonged to each other more that they belonged to us.

that's it. That's what you need to do in your marriage. You need to give what you want. And don't expect so much. That only sets you up for disappointment. If you expect anything, expect that marriage will be hard, that it will be work. And expect that the pleasures will be erratic and often small, but they'll turn out to mean more than you know.

he was learning a lot about the kind of loneliness some people endured. He

loved that he wasn't afraid of my mother, that he seemed to see past everything and acknowledge her as a person. It was a rare thing. Brooks had gotten all excited and said yes, that was right, he'd thought about that himself, he'd get to work on a design for it at the store tomorrow.

you think that your pushing me so hard for something you wanted made me kind of necessarily resist it? Would you admit that, would you say that you pushed way too hard?

If one is going to praise children's honesty when their words please, one must tolerate it when the words do not.

Don't ask so many questions. You always ask so many questions. Don't do that. Just...accept things. ...Don't ask questions and don't look back. Believe me you'll be much more content.

You know who does it right? You know who does loving right?" "Who?" "Nobody. I mean, people can't even Ã¢â'¬Â¦ If you get a cat because you just loooove cats, you're going to have plenty of days when you hate it because it's acting like a cat. Do you know what I'm saying?

I learned that the frustration and anger that comes up in these situations go both ways: you're frustrated and/or angry with your parents and they're frustrated and/or angry with you.

You know I love you, but you are one of the most exasperating people I have ever met.

Arthur thinks that, above all, aging means the abandonment of criticism and the taking on of compassionate acceptance

how accepting children can be—must be.

MADDY FEELS HER MOTHER SOMETIMES AS A GLOW IN HER BRAIN, AS A KNOCK AT HER HEART, AS A WHISPER SHE CAN'T QUITE HEAR.

Arthur feels an impulse to tell her he'd love to have her company anytime. He feels like she's the smallest little plant, dying from lack of water. But then he realizes he must tread carefully in this regard. People who don't feel cared for are not always comfortable being cared for.

Elizabeth Berg