If we can exit a relationship, pressure to reconcile lessens; if we must live with those who have wronged us, we are pushed to reconcile.
Miroslav VolfRead
Some of the worst violence in the world today between estranged religious and ethnic groups happens not on the battlefields. It happens smack in the middle of living rooms and between people who share a lot, who have a lot in common.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Conflict often arises not in public spaces but in our most personal interactions, highlighting the deep divisions that can exist even among those who are close.
This quote by Miroslav Volf emphasizes that some of the most intense and devastating conflicts occur not in traditional battlefields but in the intimate settings of our homes and personal relationships. It highlights how shared backgrounds and commonalities do not necessarily prevent violence and rifts from forming, pointing to the complex nature of human interactions and the potential for conflict even among those who seem similar.
Themes
ViolenceRelationshipsConflictCommonalityIntimacy
In practice
Example use cases
During a community seminar on conflict resolution, this quote can be shared to illustrate the importance of addressing issues within families.
More from Miroslav Volf
All quotes →Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and myself from the community of sinners.
Miroslav VolfRead
Love properly understood is God—the font of all creation and the ultimate goal of all desires; God properly understood is love.
Miroslav VolfRead
If no one remembers a misdeed or names it publically, it remains invisible. To the observer, its victim is not a victim and its perpetrator is not a perpetrator; both are misperceived because the suffering of the one and the violence of the other go unseen. A double injustice occurs-the first when the original deed is done and the second when it disappears.
Miroslav VolfRead
There is no space in which worship should not take place, no time when it should not occur, and no activity through which it should not happen.
Miroslav VolfRead
To affirm that God is God is to want to live in a particular way.
Miroslav VolfRead
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Let me peer out at the world through your lens. (Maybe I'll shudder, or gasp, or tilt my head in a question.) Let me see how your blue is my turquoise and my orange is your gold. Suddenly binary stars, we have startling gravity. Let's compare scintillation - let's share starlight.
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Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry. Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting. Petruchio: My remedy is then, to pluck it out. Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies. Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail. Katherine: In his tongue. Petruchio: Whose tongue? Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell. Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.
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The hatred of those who are near to us is most violent.
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