He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
It felt very good to have him walking beside her. Good like rest and quiet, like something you could live without but you needed anyway. That you had to learn how to miss, and then you'd never stop missing it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the deep emotional comfort found in companionship and the longing that arises from its absence.
Marilynne Robinson's quote poignantly captures the essence of companionship, illustrating how the presence of a loved one brings a sense of peace and fulfillment. It highlights that while one may not always recognize the importance of such companionship, the absence of it creates a profound sense of yearning and appreciation, emphasizing that love and connection are essential aspects of life that we often take for granted until they are gone.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a farewell speech to express the bittersweet feeling of parting from a loved one.
More from Marilynne Robinson
All quotes →It seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good measure. It seems that the spirit of religious self-righteousness this article deplores is precisely the spirit in which it is written. Of course he's right about many things, one of them being the destructive potency of religious self-righteousness. (p. 146)
A narrow pond would form in the orchard, water clear as air covering grass and black leaves and fallen branches, all around it black leaves and drenched grass and fallen branches, and on it, slight as an image in an eye, sky, clouds, trees, our hovering faces and our cold hands.
The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful in the light of morning. Light within light...It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human soul, the singular light within that great general light of existence.
There are worries that seem to me sustained by the love of worry. For example, that people are reading from screens, or listening to recorded books. Why scold the impulse to enjoy language and narrative in whatever form it takes?
Teaching is a distraction and a burden, but it's also an incredible stimulus. And a reprieve, in a way. When you're trying to work on something and it's not going anywhere, you can go to school and there's a two-and-a-half-hour block of time in which you can accomplish something.
Similar quotes
Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can't tell fast enough, the ears that aren't big enough, the eyes that can't take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone.
The confusing of marriage with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other single error.
Normally, when someone we love is turning away from a struggle, we self-protect by also turning away. That's definitely my first response. I think change is more likely to happen if both partners have common language and a shared lens to see problems.
I don't think it's a good thing to talk about women's issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women because I don't think that's true.
If after having been exposed to someone's presence you feel as if you've lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence. You need it like you need pernicious anemia.