I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the speaker's awareness of their emotional susceptibility in intense relationships and their desire to protect themselves from it.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie expresses a deep understanding of the impact that passionate and unstable relationships can have on an individual. He acknowledges his vulnerability to such connections, indicating a struggle to balance emotional engagement with self-protection. The quote highlights the tension between longing for intimacy and the fear of being hurt, showcasing the complexity of human relationships where passion can sometimes lead to emotional turmoil.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a therapy session discussing emotional challenges in relationships.
More from Salman Rushdie
All quotes →Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Good advice is rarer than rubies.
Similar quotes
The dupe of friendship, and the fool of love; have I not reason to hate and to despise myself? Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough.
Nobody likes being alone that much. I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all. It just leads to disappointment.
Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund.
You know, you’re a little complicated after all.” “Oh no,” she assured him hastily. “No, I’m not really - I’m just a - I’m just a whole lot of different simple people.
That’s always the hardest thing when someone completely has you fooled so much, that you think they’re just never going to hurt you, then they do. That’s when you get the worst heartbreak.
Today is my anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Please pray for me and all priests.