QuoteProject
What is the point of trying to put down on paper emotions that are too complex, too huge, too overwhelming to be confined by an alphabet? Love isn't the only word that fails. Hate does, too.
Jodi Picoult
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote expresses the inadequacy of language to fully capture complex emotions like love and hate.

Jodi Picoult highlights the limitations of language when attempting to articulate deep emotions. While words like 'love' and 'hate' are commonly used, they often fall short of encapsulating the intricacies and overwhelming nature of our feelings. The quote suggests that some emotions are too vast to be neatly summarized and that the simplest expressions may not do justice to the profound experiences they represent.

Themes

EmotionsLoveHateLanguageComplexity

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a discussion about the challenges of expressing feelings adequately.

More from Jodi Picoult

Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed--sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and worst of all, you never know which of the two it's going to be.
Jodi PicoultRead
Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.
Jodi PicoultRead
she told me she'd be a phoenix." The image of the mythical creature rising from the ashes glitters in my mind. "They don't really exist." "She said that depends on whether or not there's someone who can see them.
Jodi PicoultRead
for 100,000 (dollars), you [can] flatten a house with a wrecking ball. Imagine how much less it [takes] to destroy something than it [does] to build it in the first place.
Jodi PicoultRead
But if you seek forgiveness, doesn't that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesn't that desperation make you human again?
Jodi PicoultRead
when you [lose someone], it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all nerves are still a little raw
Jodi PicoultRead

Similar quotes

A kiss, when all is told, what is it? An oath taken a little closer, a promise more exact. A wish that longs to be confirmed, a rosy circle drawn around the verb 'to love'. A kiss is a secret which takes the lips for the ear, a moment of infinity humming like a bee, a communion tasting of flowers, a way of breathing in a little of the heart and tasting a little of the soul with the edge of the lips!
Edmond RostandRead
Is it easy to love God' asks an old author. 'It is easy,' he replies, 'to those who do it.' I have included two Graces under the word Charity. But God can give a third. He can awake in man, towards Himself, a supernatural Appreciative love. This is of all gifts the most to be desired. Here, not in our natural loves, nor even in ethics, lies the true centre of all human and angelic life. With this all things are possible.
C. S. LewisRead
It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe - the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor - loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.
Francis ChanRead
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her- Next time, herself!-not the trouble behind her
Robert BrowningRead
I'm writing mostly to thank you for living you eighty years and to tell you I love you and think of you often.
Naomi Shihab NyeRead
There was a house at the foot of the tower, close to the thunder of the waves breaking against the cliffs, where love was more intense because it seemed like a shipwreck.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Jodi Picoult | QuoteProject