Children can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sadness is temporary and can be overcome, while depression is a more serious, long-lasting condition.
In this quote, Barbara Kingsolver compares sadness to a head cold, suggesting that it is a common and temporary emotional state that can be resolved with time and self-care. In contrast, she likens depression to cancer, highlighting its complexity, severity, and the need for deeper understanding and treatment, thereby emphasizing the importance of recognizing the difference between fleeting sadness and a serious mental health condition.
Themes
SadnessDepressionMental HealthEmotionsResilience
In practice
Example use cases
During a mental health awareness seminar.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
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It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known.
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