I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
Virginia WoolfRead
Her only gift was knowing people almost by instinct, she thought, walking on. If you put her in a room with someone, up went her back like a cat's; or she purred.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights a woman's instinctive ability to connect with people, reflecting her sensitivity to social dynamics.
Virginia Woolf illustrates the nuanced understanding that some individuals possess when interacting with others. The woman's instinctive responses, whether defensive or inviting, reveal her deep emotional intelligence and sensitivity. This ability to read social cues and respond appropriately plays a significant role in the way she navigates her relationships, emphasizing the importance of interpersonal awareness in human interactions.
Themes
InstinctRelationshipsEmotional IntelligenceSocial DynamicsConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in a discussion about emotional intelligence at a workshop.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes →Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”)
Virginia WoolfRead
He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
Virginia WoolfRead
I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
Virginia WoolfRead
I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
Virginia WoolfRead
London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
Virginia WoolfRead
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