You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave.
Quentin CrispRead
It is explained that all relationships require a little give and take. This is untrue. Any partnership demands that we give and give and give and at the last, as we flop into our graves exhausted, we are told that we didn't give enough.
Interpretation
True partnerships involve selfless giving, often without expectation of reciprocation.
Quentin Crisp's quote highlights the common misconception that healthy relationships are balanced exchanges of give and take. Instead, he suggests that real partnerships often involve an overwhelming amount of giving, where individuals may feel they are never able to give enough, even up to the end of their lives. This perspective emphasizes the sacrificial nature of deep connections and the potential for emotional exhaustion that can accompany such commitments.
In practice
In a discussion about commitment in relationships during a workshop.
You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave.
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What would you be like if you were the only person in the world? If you want to be truly happy you must be that person.
The search for a life-style involves a journey to the interior. This is not altogether a pleasant experience, because you not only have to take stock of what you consider your assets but you also have to take a long look at what your friends call “the trouble with you.” Nevertheless, the journey is worth making.
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The flagrantly gay Quentin Crisp dealt with homophobic bullying by refusing to bow to its onslaught. His number listed in the phone directory, he responded to derogatory remarks accompanied with a stated intent to kill him by asking, "Would you like to make an appointment?"
Everybody used to talk about Chechnya as a place, in the Russian imperial and Soviet periods, that was essentially governed by extended family and regional networks that substituted for older clan structures. But those networks have been destroyed.
I don't think it's a good thing to talk about women's issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women because I don't think that's true.
The very ingredients that nurture love - mutuality, reciprocity, protection, worry, responsibility for the other - are sometimes the very ingredients that stifle desire.
My yardstick is how somebody treats me.
All black women aren't sassy, loud, difficult, or subservient. We are, in fact, very complex and very diverse, living very complex and diverse lives. That point cannot be made enough.
From their teenage years on, children are considerably more capable of causing parents unhappiness than bringing them happiness. That is one reason parents who rely on their children for happiness make both their children and themselves miserable.
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