They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
What's the use of making mysteries? It only makes people want to nose 'em out.
Interpretation
Creating mysteries can lead to curiosity and attempts to uncover the truth.
This quote by Edith Wharton suggests that mysteries serve no practical purpose as they only ignite curiosity in others, prompting them to seek out the truth. The statement highlights the human tendency to explore the unknown and implies that transparency may be more beneficial than obscurity.
In practice
This quote can be used during a discussion about the importance of transparency in relationships.
They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each otherβs angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.
I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.
Whose work is it but your own to open your eyes? But indeed the business of the universe is to make such a fool out of you that you will know yourself for one, and begin to be wise.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact.
Say the truth even if it may be bitter.
When I was younger, I was impressed by those who were educated, accomplished, successful, and applauded by the world. But over the years, I have come to the realization that I am far more impressed by those wonderful and blessed souls who are truly good and without guile.
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