I did not look for her, because I was afraid of dispelling the mystery we attach to people whom we know only casually.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the idea that knowing someone too closely can diminish the allure of mystery in relationships.
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette's quote suggests that the intrigue and fascination we hold for people we do not know well can be lost when we allow ourselves to become closer to them. This apprehension stems from the belief that familiarity can strip away the enchanting layers that make individuals captivating, leaving behind the mundane aspects of their personalities. In essence, it highlights the tension between the desire for intimacy and the fear of losing the mystique that surrounds our perceptions of others.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the complexities of relationships during a psychology class.
It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.
Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
I went to collect the few personal belongings which...I held to be invaluable: my cat, my resolve to travel, and my solitude.
The only virtue on which I pride myself is my self-doubt; when a writer loses her self-doubt, the time has come to lay aside her pen.
You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.
Truffles must come to the table in their own stock and as you break open this jewel sprung from a poverty-stricken soil, imagine - if you have never visited it - the desolate kingdom where it rules.
These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: Can't live with them, or without them.
Even if you meet the perfect person, it ain’t gonna be at the perfect time. You’re married, they’re single. That’s right. You’re Jewish, they’re Palestinian. You’re a Mexican, they’re a raccoon. You’re a black woman, he’s a black man.
You mustnt give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get.
Well, I've been waiting, I was sure we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for I think it's time to board another Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter
There is a huge sense of loneliness as people leave villages and move to cities. It's hard to find that human connection as you move away from where you started.
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.
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