Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
The most dangerous word in any human tongue is the word for brother. It's inflammatory.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The word 'brother' can incite strong emotions and conflicts among people, highlighting the complexities of familial and societal bonds.
Tennessee Williams suggests that the term 'brother' carries a significant emotional weight that can lead to intense disagreements and disputes. This highlights how familial ties and the concept of kinship, while often seen as positive, can also provoke deep-seated conflicts, particularly when coupled with issues of loyalty, expectation, and rivalry. The quote reflects on the paradox of close relationships β they can be both nurturing and perilous.
Themes
BrotherRelationshipsConflictEmotionsFamily
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about family dynamics, one might refer to this quote to illustrate the potential for conflict within close relationships.
More from Tennessee Williams
All quotes βTime rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Show me a person who hasnΒ΄t known any sorrow and IΒ΄ll show you a superficial.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Success and failure are equally disastrous.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die β with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Similar quotes
Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer.
Charles Grandison FinneyRead
To feel physically comfortable with someone else's body is not a decision you make. It has very little thing to do with how two people think or act or talk or even look. The mysterious magnet is either there, buried somewhere deep behind the sternum, or it is not.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders.
ConfuciusRead
Privacy is so sacred, and any time a victim is returned, a survivor is found and rescued, privacy is one of the greatest gifts we can give them because if they decide to share, that's up to them, and they will come forward.
Elizabeth SmartRead
Psychologists call this habituation, economists call it declining marginal utility, and the rest of us call it marriage.
Daniel GilbertRead
Your working assumption, when you meet a homophobe, should be that they are gay.
Johann HariRead