Don't we forgive everything of a lover? We forgive selfishness, desire, guile. As long as we are the motive for it...There are some European words you can never translate properly into another language.
Michael OndaatjeRead
I have spent weeks in the desert, forgetting to look at the moon, he says, as a married man may spend days never looking into the face of his wife. These are not sins of omission but signs of pre-occuopation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how distractions can lead us to neglect what truly matters, like our loved ones.
Michael Ondaatje's quote reflects on the momentary preoccupations that often distract us from appreciating the significant aspects of our lives, such as a spouse's presence. By drawing a parallel between ignoring the moon in the desert and overlooking a partner's face, it serves as a reminder to be present and attentive in our relationships, recognizing that these oversights are more about the distractions of life than intentional neglect.
Themes
PreoccupationRelationshipsAttentionAwarenessNeglect
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a relationship counseling session to emphasize the importance of attentiveness to partners.
More from Michael Ondaatje
All quotes →When we are young we do not look into mirrors. It is when we are old, concerned with our name, our legend, what our lives will mean to the future. We become vain with the names we own, our claims to have been the first eyes, the strongest army, the cleverest merchant. It is when he is old that Narcissus wants a graven image of himself.
Michael OndaatjeRead
Water is the exile, carried back in cans and flasks, the ghost between your hands and your mouth.
Michael OndaatjeRead
You must talk to me, Caravaggio. Or am I just a book? Something to be read, some creature to be tempted out of a loch and shot full of morphine, full of corridors, lies, loose vegetation, pockets of stones.
Michael OndaatjeRead
You don't want to write your own opinion, you don't want to just represent yourself, but represent yourself through someone else.
Michael OndaatjeRead
A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands, knowing it is something that feeds him more than water.
Michael OndaatjeRead
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