Quotes About Connections

How many books had she touched? How many had she felt?

The sort of individualism that scorns and fears connections with other people as threats to the self's integrity, and the sort of collectivism that seeks to submerge the self in a social role, may be more appealing than the Marxian synthesis, because they are intellectually and emotionally so much easier.

Perhaps we know only by comparing, by drawing distinctions from and similarities to what we already know. But when we use our terms of comparison to shut off any understanding of our connections with one another as human beings, we risk becoming something less than human ourselves. (7)

Some of our best living is done through the people we leave behind.

if a man wants friends be must go among strangers. It's

Stupid people cannot see the inter-connections between natural phenomena, either when these phenomena occur on their own or when they are consciously controlled, that is, pressed into service as machines; they therefore easily believe in magic and miracles.

As people become aware of the finitude of their life, they do not ask for much. They do not seek more riches. They do not seek more power. They ask only to be permitted, insofar as possible, to keep shaping the story of their life in the world—to make choices and sustain connections to others according to their own priorities.

The terror of sickness and old age is not merely the terror of the losses one is forced to endure but also the terror of the isolation. As people become aware of the finitude of their life, they do not ask for much. They do not seek more riches. They do not seek more power. They ask only to be permitted, insofar as possible, to keep shaping the story of their life in the world—to make choices and sustain connections to others according to their own priorities.

They ask only to be permitted, insofar as possible, to keep shaping the story of their life in the world—to make choices and sustain connections to others according to their own priorities. In modern society, we have come to assume that debility and dependence rule out such autonomy.

Studies find that as people grow older they interact with fewer people and concentrate more on spending time with family and established friends

Some I am fortunate to still keep up with. Others I was never given the chance to know as well as I wish I could have. All of them have taught me more than any could know.

We didn't know each other well. I never had the time. Now I see that it doesn't make any difference. The ones who hurry and the ones who take their time all end up in the same place. Just don't have any regrets. No regrets.

Never, ever go near power. Don't become friends with anyone who has real power. It's dangerous.

Nearly) all thinking is associative. While it's easy to spot the obvious metaphorical associations ("iceberg"), associations go all the way down to conceptual ideas (up is good) to more fundamental associations that began perhaps in the womb with spatial orientation.

It is as if we are all embedded in a vast graph of possibilities, a graph with an axis marked time, for our own future destiny, and an axis marked space, for the possibilities of the universe.

My father believed that his own lack of pose and connections had led him being passed over in his career in favor of people of less ability. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he felt that other people who were not as good but who had the right background and connections had gotten ahead of him. He used to warn me against such people.

We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.

Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant, did you ever notice that?

Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

there will always be books. ... Books are real objects . Books are friends . ... They're also ideas and emotions.

Everyone that you'll ever met wil know someone that you won't

Everyone in your life is in your life for a reason, it's finding those reasons that make life beautiful.

Temporary friends sometimes bring us to permanent blessings.

Our lives are shaped by those who love us as well as those who refuse to love us.