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It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'
Adrienne Rich
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Interpretation

What this quote means

A child's perception of love and presence is profoundly communicated through a mother's affection.

This quote emphasizes the deep connection between a mother and her child, suggesting that a mother's gaze, smile, and touch convey a fundamental message of reassurance and presence to her child. It illustrates how non-verbal communication plays a crucial role in nurturing a child's sense of belonging and love, highlighting the importance of maternal affection in early development.

Themes

MotherChildLoveAffectionConnection

In practice

Example use cases

During a family gathering, you might share this quote to highlight the importance of a mother's love.

More from Adrienne Rich

My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance.
Adrienne RichRead
The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution of a wheel which returns in the end to the same place; the revolving door of a politics which has liberated women only to use them, and only within the limits of male tolerance.
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A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'”
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There is no 'the truth','a truth' - truth is not one thing, or even a system. It is an increasing complexity. the pattern of the carpet is a surface. When we look closely, or when we become weavers, we learn of the tiny multiple threads unseen in the overall pattern, the knots on the underside of the carpet
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It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness
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Pride is a tricky, glorious, double-edged feeling.
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