I think part of the reason I'm attracted to Foster is because he's such a mess. I mean, the people I have loved in my life have never been easy to love. I'm not used to normal. I'm used to disaster. I don't know, as messed up as he is, he's also sort of exciting, sort of a challenge. I'm accustomed to working for love.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the complexities of love, particularly the attraction to individuals who are flawed and challenging.
Augusten Burroughs expresses the idea that his experiences with love have often been with people who are complicated and difficult to love. He finds excitement in this challenge, suggesting that love is not always about comfort and normalcy, but rather about embracing the chaos and effort that comes with loving imperfect individuals.
In practice
During a discussion on relationships, you might use this quote to illustrate the idea that love often involves overcoming difficulties.
This is how you survive the unsurvivable, this is how you lose that which you cannot bear to lose, this is how you reinvent yourself, overcome your abusers, fulfill your ambitions and meet the love of your life: by following what is true, no matter where it leads you.
The truth is humbling, terrifying, and often exhilarating. It blows the doors off the hinges and fills the world with fresh air.
Some damage is too severe, some harm endures. And what you have to do is accept it. And by accept it I mean, don’t be the paralyzed person in the bed who is waiting to walk again. Realize, it’s never gonna happen. And find some other way to get around –swing from a vine, get a Mad Max wheelchair. Anything but…wait.
But then, look at me. My brain is incorrectly formed, and I'm shaped like a tube. Plus, I'm an alcoholic, a "survivor" of childhood sexual abuse, was raised in a cult and have no education. So, really, if you think about it, the only thing that separates me from the guy with the stinky foot and no teeth is a book deal and some cologne.
Time moves only forward, never back. We look forward to a moment and then it arrives and an instant later it is gone. Like something on the surface of a river that we reached for but did not touch in time and it carried on, away. You cannot be a prisoner of your past against your will. Because you can only live in the past inside your mind.
Any damage that's been done, you have to fix yourself because it needs fixing and there is nobody else to do the work. Blame may well be justified, but it's not going to move you forward in your life.
Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.
Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.
Love with complications. Scenery was the last thing on my mind.
Tis better to have love and lust Than to let our apparatus rust.
The girl who I will marry will have a heart so wise that in the hollow of her eyes my heart will want to tarry. The girl who will be mine will have skin so soft and tender, and when it comes December, her skin will be my wine.
Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
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