...people liking you or not liking you is an accident and is to do with them and not you. That goes for love too, only more so.
Interpretation
People's opinions about you are not a reflection of your worth, especially in love.
This quote by Edna O'Brien emphasizes that the way people feel about you is often beyond your control and is influenced by their own experiences and perceptions. It suggests that one should not take these opinions personally, particularly in matters of love, where emotions are deeply affected by both internal and external factors.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about self-esteem and relationships.
Love . . . is like nature, but in reverse; first it fruits, then it flowers, then it seems to wither, then it goes deep, deep down into its burrow, where no one sees it, where it is lost from sight, and ultimately people die with that secret buried inside their souls.
That is the mystery about writing: it comes out of afflictions, out of the gouged times, when the heart is cut open.
Cities, in many ways, are the best repositories for a love affair. You are in a forest or a cornfield, you are walking by the seashore, footprint after footprint of trodden sand, and somehow the kiss or the spoken covenant gets lost in the vastness and indifference of nature. In a city there are places to remind us of what has been.
Darkness is drawn to light, but light does not know it; light must absorb the darkness and therefore meet its own extinguishment.
Oh, love, what an unreasoning creature it grew to be.
Recollection is not something that I can summon up, it simply comes and I am the servant of it.
I hate a man who always says yes to me. When I say no I like a man who also says no.
Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.
Any relationship primarily built on physical attractiveness is predestined to be short lived.
The question is always whether all of Baltimore will rise together or whether we will leave some behind.
Every man rejoices twice when he has a partner in his joy. He who shares tears with us wipes them away. He divides them in two, and he who laughs with us makes the joy double.
If you desire to drain to the dregs the fullest cup of scorn and hatred that a fellow human being can pour out for you, let a young mother hear you call dear baby 'it.'
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