You know the old adage: Plant an expectation, reap a disappointment.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
Childlessness doesn't make people selfish; selfishness makes people selfish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights that the absence of children does not inherently lead to selfishness; instead, selfish behavior stems from individual character traits.
In this quote, Elizabeth Gilbert emphasizes that the decision to remain childless should not be automatically associated with selfishness. She argues that selfishness is a quality of a person's character rather than a consequence of their life choices, such as whether or not they choose to have children. By distinguishing between the two, the quote encourages a deeper understanding of human motivations and the complexities of personal choices.
Themes
ChildlessnessSelfishnessCharacterChoicesPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on family planning, one might use this quote to challenge assumptions about childless couples.
More from Elizabeth Gilbert
All quotes βDo not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
When I tried this morning, after an hour or so of unhappy thinking, to dip back into my meditation, I took a new idea with me: compassion. I asked my heart if it could please infuse my soul with a more generous perspective on my mind's workings. Instead of thinking that I was a failure, could I perhaps accept that I am only a human being--and a normal one, at that?
Elizabeth GilbertRead
And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilling yearnings.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
Similar quotes
Which is worse, Risa often wondered, to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted or to silently make then go away before they were even born
Neal ShustermanRead
Look in the mirror, and don't be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival.
Stephen Jay GouldRead
What a frightening thing is the human, a mass of gauges and dials and registers, and we can only read a few and those perhaps not accurately.
John SteinbeckRead
Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.
Cornel WestRead
War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press have turned war into a vast video arcade game. Its very essence-death-is hidden from public view.
Chris HedgesRead
But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.
Alan WattsRead