You know the old adage: Plant an expectation, reap a disappointment.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilling yearnings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Don't exploit others to fulfill your own emotional needs.
This quote by Elizabeth Gilbert emphasizes the importance of recognizing the autonomy and feelings of others. It warns against using other people merely as a means to satisfy one's own insecurities or emotional cravings, highlighting the necessity of genuine connections rooted in respect and understanding rather than self-serving desires.
Themes
EmotionsRelationshipsRespectUnfulfillingUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about healthy relationships, this quote can remind someone to avoid emotional manipulation.
More from Elizabeth Gilbert
All quotes βDo not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
When I tried this morning, after an hour or so of unhappy thinking, to dip back into my meditation, I took a new idea with me: compassion. I asked my heart if it could please infuse my soul with a more generous perspective on my mind's workings. Instead of thinking that I was a failure, could I perhaps accept that I am only a human being--and a normal one, at that?
Elizabeth GilbertRead
And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
Your home is whatever in this world you love more than you love yourself.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
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I was too absorbed to be responsive
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