I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external world, but every time there's a snowstorm or drought, we know our fate is tied to the world around us
Before she realized he was next to her, he had placed his hands over hers on the countertop, then hooped his fingers through hers. Gretel looked up at him, so startled she might as well have been shot. 'I just wanted to wake you up', he said. Which is exactly what he did. One look at him and her heart was racing. One look, and whatever had been before was all over.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote encapsulates the moment of awakening to love and connection, transforming a simple moment into something profound.
In this quote, Alice Hoffman depicts a poignant moment of intimate connection, where a gentle and unexpected gesture transforms the protagonist's awareness and emotions. The act of his hands covering hers symbolizes a deeper awakening, not just from sleep but from emotional dormancy, infusing the moment with both surprise and exhilaration. This simple yet intimate encounter captures the essence of how love can abruptly change our perceptions and experiences, marking a significant shift in one's emotional state.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a romantic dinner, you might quote this to highlight a magical moment shared with your partner.
More from Alice Hoffman
All quotes →Do people choose the art that inspires them — do they think it over, decide they might prefer the fabulous to the real? For me, it was those early readings of fairy tales that made me who I was as a reader and, later on, as a storyteller.
I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book. Hopefully, once a story is begun it reveals itself
My theory is that everyone at one time or another has been at the fringe of society in some way: an outcast in high school, a stranger in a foreign country, the best at something, the worst at something, the one who's different. Being an outsider is the one thing we all have in common.
My grandmother told me once that when you lose somebody you think you've lost the whole world as well, but that's not the way things turn out in the end. Eventually, you pick yourself up and look out the window, and once you do you see everything that was there before the world ended is out there still. There are the same apple trees and the same songbirds, and over our heads, the very same sky that shines like heaven, so far above us we can never hope to reach such heights.
It was the sort of beauty you feel so deeply it becomes contagious and somehow makes you feel beautiful too.
Similar quotes
God loves us beyond comprehension, and we cannot diminish God's love for us.
Nothing in life is as good as the marriage of true minds between man and woman. As good? It is life itself.
In school, they would tell you that life wouldn’t come to you; you had to go out and make it your own. But when it came to love, the message for girls seemed to be this: Don’t. Don’t go after what you want. Wait. Wait to be chosen, as if only in the eye of another could one truly find value. The message was confusing and infuriating. It was a shell game with no actual pea under the rapidly moving cups.
I like you; your eyes are full of language." [Letter to Anne Clarke, July 3, 1964.]
If you want to change the way others treat you, you should first change the way you treat yourself. Unless you learn to love yourself, fully and sincerely, there is no way you can be loved. Once you achieve that stage, however, be thankful for every thorn that others might throw at you. It is a sign that you will soon be showered in roses.
Men like women who write. Even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country.