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
Everyone has a story; everyone hides his past as a means of self-preservation. Some just do it better, and more thoroughly, than others.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People conceal their past experiences to protect themselves, each doing so with varying levels of success.
This quote highlights the universal human experience of having a personal history that shapes who we are, while also emphasizing the tendency to hide certain aspects of that history for self-preservation. It suggests that while everyone has their unique tales of struggle and growth, the ability to manage or mask these stories can differ greatly among individuals, often reflecting deeper psychological strategies for coping with pain or vulnerability.
Themes
StoryPastSelf-PreservationHuman ExperiencePsychology
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of acknowledging our past.
More from Jodi Picoult
All quotes βWhether 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
I emphasize in it [my Orientalism] accortdingly that neither the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other.
Edward SaidRead
Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of peopleMaybe weβre accumulating these new selves all the time. Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things.
Jandy NelsonRead
This world owes all its forward impulses to people ill at ease.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
Spirit vibrated into matter; hence, both Spirit and matter exist. Matter, however, does not exist in the way that it appears to us. It exists as we see it owing to the delusive force of maya, which makes the indivisible Spirit seem finite and divisible to all appearances. Matter has existence in the same delusive way as does a mirage in the desert.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.
Seneca The YoungerRead
The person I am now, compared with the person in the dream, has been baffled and defeated and only supposes he enjoys a full life. In the dreams, I see what a full life really consists of, and it is not what I really have.
Philip K. DickRead