Quotes About Connection

This was the cream of marriage, this nightly turning out of the day's pocketful of memories, this deft habitual sharing of two pairs of eyes, two pairs of ears. It gave you, in a sense, almost a double life: though never, on the other hand, quite a single one.

It oughtn't to need a war to make us talk to each other in buses, and invent our own amusements in the evenings, and live simply, and eat sparingly, and recover the use of our legs, and get up early enough to see the sun rise.

A] certain degree of un-understanding (not mis-, but un-) is the only possible sanctuary which one human being can offer to another in the midst of the devastating intimacy of a happy marriage.

Clem caught her eye across the table. It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but simply there being always an eye to catch.

She saw every relationship as a pair of intersecting circles. The more they intersected, it would seem at first glance, the better the relationship; but this is not so. Beyond a certain point the law of diminishing returns sets in, and there aren't enough private resources left on either side to enrich the life that is shared. Probably perfection is reached when the area of the two outer crescents, added together, is exactly equal to that of the leaf-shaped piece in the middle.

forgetting that the one we are speaking with is a person, not a factory for granting wishes. He invites us to pray so we will engage him in conversation, and through conversation, get to know him.

Steeds zie ik ons samen opdoemen in mijn geest en weer verdwijnen. Als jongens, als jongemannen en op latere leeftijd. We kijken allebei star voor ons uit. Het lijkt wel of we met elkaar vergroeid zijn, zo dicht lopen we tegen elkaar. Ik weet niet of we op weg zijn ergens naar toe of dat het zomaar een dwalen is. Er is geen angst want ik weet dat we elkaar niet kwijt kunnen raken.

My mom always said we can't pick our family," he said, "but we can make our own. I've got some relatives I prefer at a distance and some friends I'd give the shirt off my back.

relationships you choose to make are far more important than the ones that are forced on you. She's always saying 'you have to love your family, but you don't have to like them, or want to spend time with them.

Emma ended the call and slipped her phone back into

Television she could do without for a night or two, but having no Internet was akin to having no hot water. It just wasn't a livable sort of thing.

Romance and love are two different things.

Mildred was old-fashioned in a lot of ways, but family wasn't one of them. Blood didn't make someone love you. It didn't make someone treat you right.

it's not children who extinguish the flame of desire—it's the adults who fail to keep the spark alive.

Remember how it was when we kissed? Armfuls and armfuls of light thrown right at us. A rope dropping down from the sky. How can the word love and the word life even fit in the mouth?

Much of the insensibility and hardness of the world is due to the lack of imagination which prevents a realization of the experiences of other people.

Of all writers, [Jane Austen] is the most adept at creating both characters who seem to possess an independent existence and a narrator to whom readers feel able to turn, as if to an intimate friend.

Among siblings, deep affection and aggravation generally go hand in hand.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

I have not the pleasure of understanding you.

What makes me happy I seem to catch out of the sky with both hands; I only hold whatever it is that I love because that is all I can really see.

Houses! I hate houses. I like public places. Houses break your heart.

I always thought I should meet you. My cousin used to tell me how queer you were. I think, though, that you can make friends more quickly with queer people. Or else you don't make friends with them at all—one way or the other.