We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. It may be the very recognition of all men as our brothers that accounts for the sibling rivalry, and even enmity, we have toward so many of them.
Interpretation
Love for one another is essential, but personal liking is not mandatory.
This quote by Peter De Vries suggests that while it is important to love one another as human beings, there is no obligation to necessarily like everyone. The recognition of shared humanity can lead to complex emotions such as rivalry and enmity, highlighting the difference between universal love and personal affinity or friendship.
In practice
During a team-building workshop, to illustrate the importance of collaboration despite personal differences.
I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best -- it's all they'll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money -- provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don't need it.
There are times when parenthood seems nothing more than feeding the hand that bites you.
The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe.
Who of us is mature enough for offspring before the offspring themselves arrive? The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is good for dandruff - it is a palliative rather than a remedy.
The value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults.
For me, living means I can be responsive to the other person. It means I can show my emotions and my feelings. Talk to them. Feel with them.
Too many women are forced to abort by poverty, by their menfolk, by their parents. A choice is only possible if there are genuine alternatives.
It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest wife anyway.
Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me.
For me, any story I tackle begins with the human relationships and not the plot.
You get older, and people start passing away. And so if you're lucky - my mom died very young, for instance, and I have friends who died very young - but the point being that, I think if you're awake, you know you're going to pass on. And that the real treasure in life is the long term - relationships that you really value.
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