QuoteProject
When a marriage founders, this may well be cause for tremendous sadness, but it's not a failure of spirit or character. People change, their goals and dreams alter, their ideas of themselves grow, or they just meet someone they like better.
Naomi Alderman
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Marriages can end due to changes in personal goals and preferences, not a lack of character.

This quote by Naomi Alderman reflects the complexities of modern relationships, emphasizing that the end of a marriage is often a natural result of personal growth and changing aspirations rather than a personal failure. It suggests that people evolve over time, and their desires may shift, leading them to new paths that diverge from their previous commitments.

Themes

MarriageRelationshipsChangeGrowthPersonal Development

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can inspire a discussion during a couples therapy session about the evolving nature of relationships.

More from Naomi Alderman

Writers of feminist dystopian fiction are alert to the realities that grind down women's lives, that make the unthinkable suddenly thinkable.
Naomi AldermanRead
The demands of having to be 'masculine' are as damaging to men as the demands of having to be 'feminine' are to women. I wish we could all agree just to wash it all away. Begin again.
Naomi AldermanRead
One of the hardest challenges posed by the modern world is how to deal with abundance. It's even harder to confront because admitting that it's a problem seems spoiled.
Naomi AldermanRead
I hope that there are many more women out there writing bits of feminist sci-fi. And men, also - men are allowed to write feminist things.
Naomi AldermanRead
The arts are valuable because they increase our sense of what it means to be human, not because of any specific skill or ability they confer.
Naomi AldermanRead
More choice doesn't make us happy, and we understand that no one has infinite choices about how to live life.
Naomi AldermanRead

Similar quotes

He couldn't even tell whether he was angry or contrite, whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive.
Richard YatesRead
When I look at relationships, my own and others, I see a wide range of reasons for people to be together and ways in which they are together. I see ways in which a relationship - which means something that exists between two or more people - for the most part reinforces people's separateness as individual entities.
Ram DassRead
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.
Walt WhitmanRead
I think the greatest of all human virtues is loyalty. It embraces all the best of the human character: courage, faith, love and charity.
Douglas BaderRead
When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now?
Max LucadoRead
The point of feminism is you shouldn't have to be a man to be treated with equal respect.
Kimberle Williams CrenshawRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Naomi Alderman | QuoteProject