Among writers, if you don't have a therapist, it's like saying you don't keep a journal or use the thesaurus. It's a natural accompaniment.
Amy TanRead
And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on unresolved issues and the pain of unexpressed emotions in a relationship.
In this quote, Amy Tan highlights the complexity and fragility of human relationships, particularly touching on themes of betrayal and the lingering pain of unspoken words. The speaker grapples with feelings of regret over a past event where important emotions and questions were never confronted, leading to a sense of loss and sadness regarding the hope that one partner had, which ultimately faltered. It illustrates how unresolved conflicts can haunt relationships and the weight of emotional truths left unexamined.
Themes
BetrayalHopeEmotionRegretRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the importance of communication in relationships.
More from Amy Tan
All quotes →Her education only made her unhappy thinking about it - that no matter how much she changed her life, she could not change the world that surrounded her.
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You can't have intentions without consequences. The question is, who pays for the consequences? Saving fish from drowning. Same thing. Who’s saved? Who’s not?
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I am fascinated by language in daily life: the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.
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Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you- not your husband, not your mother, not God. So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?
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I learned to make things not matter, to put a seal on my hopes and place them on a high shelf, out of reach. And by telling myself that there was nothing inside those hopes anyway, I avoided the wounds of deep disappointment. The pain was no worse than the quick sting of a booster shot. And yet thinking about this makes me ache again. How is it that as a child I knew I should have been loved more? Is everyone born with a bottomless emotional resevoir?
Amy TanRead
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