Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
She is inhumanly alone. And then, all at once, she isn't.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a profound moment of connection that alleviates isolation.
In this quote, Barbara Kingsolver captures a deep emotional transition from loneliness to connection. It highlights the experience of feeling profoundly alone, yet suddenly finding solace or companionship that transforms that isolation into a shared moment. This encapsulates the fragility and unpredictability of human relationships, where one can feel abandoned yet find comfort in the presence of others at unexpected moments.
Themes
LonelinessConnectionIsolationRelationshipsCompanionship
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about mental health, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of human connection.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes βChildren can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
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I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
Barbara KingsolverRead
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Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.
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She is like all the rest of them. Whether they are seventeen or fortyseven, when they finally come to surrender completely, it's going to be in words.
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At twenty-five, girls begin to talk about being old maids, but secretly resolve that they never will. At thirty, they say nothing about it, but quietly accept the fact.
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I miss God. I miss the company of someone utterly loyal. I still don't think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God, yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss God who was my friend. I don't even know if God exists, but I do know that if God is your emotional role model, very few human relationships will match up to it.
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