Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed--sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and worst of all, you never know which of the two it's going to be.
Jodi PicoultRead
Everyone knew that if you divided reality by expectation, you got a happiness quotient. But when you invert the equation - expectation divided by reality - you didn't get the opposite of happiness. What you got, Lewis realized, was hope.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness is derived from the relationship between reality and expectations, but hope arises when expectations are compared to reality.
In this quote, Jodi Picoult emphasizes the connection between our happiness and our expectations. It suggests that while happiness is influenced by how our reality matches our expectations, a shift in perspective—focusing on expectations in relation to reality—does not lead to unhappiness but instead fosters hope. This implies that hope is a valuable emotional state that allows one to navigate life's uncertainties positively, even when stark realities confront our desires and expectations.
Themes
HappinessHopeExpectationRealityPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the importance of resilience in the face of challenges.
More from Jodi Picoult
All quotes →Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.
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she told me she'd be a phoenix." The image of the mythical creature rising from the ashes glitters in my mind. "They don't really exist." "She said that depends on whether or not there's someone who can see them.
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for 100,000 (dollars), you [can] flatten a house with a wrecking ball. Imagine how much less it [takes] to destroy something than it [does] to build it in the first place.
Jodi PicoultRead
But if you seek forgiveness, doesn't that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesn't that desperation make you human again?
Jodi PicoultRead
when you [lose someone], it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all nerves are still a little raw
Jodi PicoultRead
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