I had relationships with men as well as women. I wasn't choosing; I didn't think I had to.
Interpretation
The quote expresses openness in romantic relationships, highlighting a lack of confinement to traditional norms regarding gender.
Jeanette Winterson reflects on her experiences with relationships, suggesting that her attraction to both men and women was natural and unforced. She emphasizes the idea that love and connection should not be restricted by societal labels or expectations, advocating for the acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and the fluidity of attraction.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a discussion about LGBTQ+ rights and the importance of recognizing all kinds of love.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
Be yourself and the right people will love you.
A single woman with a very narrow income must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid - the proper sport of boys and girls; but a single woman of good fortune is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else.
Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.
Our listening creates a sanctuary for the homeless parts within another person.
The Violence Against Women Act protects the lives of tens of thousands of domestic violence victims. But the U.S. must also support gender equality around the world, and that means acknowledging that some nations we consider to be our friends are no friends to women.
..but it seemed to him that the tie between husband and wife, if breakable in prosperity, should be indissoluble in misfortune.
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