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
Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sometimes we need distance from home to appreciate its value.
This quote by Jodi Picoult reflects the idea that experiencing life away from our familiar surroundings can deepen our appreciation for them. The journey of travel, both physically and emotionally, often reveals the sentimental value of our 'starting point'βthe places and people we may take for granted until we are apart from them.
Themes
TravelAppreciationHomeDistanceSelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech about the importance of exploring the world before settling down.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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