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.
I didn't know what hate felt like, not the hate that comes after love. It's huge and desperate and it longs to be proved wrong. And every day it's proved right it grows a little more monstrous. If the love was passion, the hate will be obsession. A need to see the once-loved weak and cowed beneath pity. Disgust is close and dignity is far away. The hate is not only for the once loved, it's for yourself too; how could you ever have loved this?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the deep and destructive nature of hate that follows love, highlighting how it can consume both the lover and the beloved.
In this quote, Jeanette Winterson reflects on the complexity of emotions that arise after love turns into hate. She suggests that this kind of hate is a desperate and obsessive feeling, which grows as one grapples with the pain of loss and betrayal. The transition from love to hate can be devastating, not only towards the other person but also towards oneself, questioning past feelings and choices. Winterson captures the essence of how love can transform into a monstrous form of hatred that craves to see the beloved in a weak and pitiful state, showcasing the darker sides of human emotions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the complexities of relationships during a psychology class.
More from Jeanette Winterson
All quotes →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.
Similar quotes
Give! Give the love you have received to those around you. You must love with your time, your hands, and your hearts. You need to share all that you have.
How will a person know, Selina, when the soul that has the affinity with hers is near it?" She answered, "She will know. Does she look for air, before she breathes it? This love will be guided to her; and when it comes, she will know. And she will do anything to keep that love about her, then. Because to lose it will be like a death to her.
Her eyes are homes of silent prayers.
That deepest thing, that recognition, that knowledge, that sense of kinship began the first time I saw you,and it is the same now - only a thousand times deeper and tenderer. I shall love you to eternity. I loved you long before we met in this flesh. I knew that when I first saw you. It was destiny. We are together like this and nothing can shake us apart.
I'm not claiming divinity. I've never claimed purity of soul. I've never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can. But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.
It was not in the winter_x000D_ _x000D_ Our loving lot was cast!_x000D_ _x000D_ It was the time of roses,_x000D_ _x000D_ We plucked them as we passed!