I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
Virginia WoolfRead
Her only gift was knowing people almost by instinct, she thought, walking on. If you put her in a room with someone, up went her back like a cat's; or she purred.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights a woman's instinctive ability to connect with people, reflecting her sensitivity to social dynamics.
Virginia Woolf illustrates the nuanced understanding that some individuals possess when interacting with others. The woman's instinctive responses, whether defensive or inviting, reveal her deep emotional intelligence and sensitivity. This ability to read social cues and respond appropriately plays a significant role in the way she navigates her relationships, emphasizing the importance of interpersonal awareness in human interactions.
Themes
InstinctRelationshipsEmotional IntelligenceSocial DynamicsConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in a discussion about emotional intelligence at a workshop.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes →Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”)
Virginia WoolfRead
He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
Virginia WoolfRead
I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
Virginia WoolfRead
I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
Virginia WoolfRead
London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
Virginia WoolfRead
Similar quotes
Many women cut back what had to be done at home by redefining what the house, the marriage and, sometimes, what the child needs. One woman described a fairly common pattern: I do my half. I do half of his half, and the rest doesn't get done.
Arlie Russell HochschildRead
The most hurtful thing is not what comes from our adversaries, it's what comes from our friends.
Gloria SteinemRead
People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard and so forth, easier and easier the longer you go on. But instead it's like missing water. Every day, you notice the person's absence more.
Anne TylerRead
I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
A man always blames the woman who fools him. In the same way he blames the door he walks into in the dark.
H. L. MenckenRead
We spoke about our dreams and how we always felt safe in them, no matter how bad everthing else seemed. He told me it was one of the best days of his life and then he took out his gun. A .22 rifle. And he leaned forward and whispered, "Forgive me, Taylor Markham." Before I could ask how he knew my name and what I was to forgive him for he said, "Take care of my little girl." And then he told me to close my eyes. And I've been frightened to do just that ever since.
Melina MarchettaRead