Alice Sebold Quotes

It drives me nuts how I rely on my wife for everything. I can't imagine a day without her!

Sometimes if you expose your vulnerability, someone else will feel comforted. It's like we're all in this boat together.

I think we're always scared, but we have each other to lean on, so we're not being extremely vulnerable in front of the world by ourselves. We have each other.

Who can be sure that Jean Valjean had not been on the verge of losing heart and giving up the struggle? In loving he recovered his strength. But the truth is that he was no less vulnerable than Cosette. He protected her and she sustained him. Thanks to him she could go forward into life, and thanks to her he could continue virtous. He was the child's support and she his mainstay. Sublime, unfathomable marvel of the balance of destiny!

stanchion, n. I don't want to be the strong one, but I don't want to be the weak one either. Why does it feel like it's always one or the other? When we embrace, one of us is always holding the other a little tighter.

The way i see it, love is just a bigger, stickier form of trust.

I like it that they [disciples] feed me and pay for my clothes and protect me. And in return I will do for them what I can, but no more than that. Just as I cannot breathe the breath of another or help the heart of someone else to beat or their bones not to weaken or their flesh not to shrivel, I cannot say more than I can say. And I know how deeply this disturbs them, and it would make me smile, this earnest need for foolish anecdote or sharp simple patterns in the story of what happened to us all, except that I have forgotten how to smile.

Let's face it. We're undone by each other. And if we're not, we're missing something.

A man does not go to a woman to get his strength; he goes to her to offer it.

You fixed yourself. You didn’t need me.” “No, Sydney.” My voice was ragged. “I do need you. You have no idea how much I need you.

“I'm not going anywhere.” Gently, he stroked her back, cradled her head. Was there anything more astounding or more frightening to a man, he wondered, than a strong woman in tears? “I've been right here all along. I love you, Eve, almost more than I can stand.” “I need you. I can't help it. I don't want to.” “I know. He eased back, tucking a hand under her chin to lift her face to his. “We’re going to have to deal with it.” He kissed one wet cheek, then the other. “I really can’t do without you.“

Being able to depend on someone doesn't mean you're dependent on them.

Right now, I wish I’d stayed because I want you at my side. That sounds pretty selfish, but I don’t mean it that way. You just never needed me that way; I said it to you once as I was leaving—that you love me, but you don’t need me. You don’t lean. But I admire that about you, and I could use some of your strength right now.

There's nothing wrong with wanting someone to save us - or admitting we can't do it all ourselves.

I learned very early in life that I was always going to need people more than they needed me

And the weak soul, within itself unbless'd, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast.

I know enough to know that no man is an island.

When we [people] are operating from the belief that we're not connected, it feels so dangerous and scary and vulnerable and awful.

Outside of my film work, my advocacy and activism is centered around inter-connection and inter-dependence.

i want to stay with you." it was easier to say in the darkness, knowing as i spoke my voice would betray me, my hopeless addiction to him.

Whenever your life touches mine, you make me stronger of weaker... there is no escape... people drag others or lift others up.

American culture in particular has instilled in us the bizarre notion that to ask for help amounts to an admission of failure. But some of the most powerful, successful, admired people in the world seem, to me, to have something in common: they ask constantly, creatively, compassionately, and gracefully. And to be sure: when you ask, there's always the possibility of a no on the other side of the request. If we don't allow for that no, we're not actually asking, we're either begging or demanding. But it is the fear of the no that keeps so many of our mouths sewn tightly shut.

How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into.

Loving souls are like paupers. They live on what is given them.

I’ve been happy alone and I’ve been unhappy without you. I never wanted to depend on anyone, or to let myself care so much I could be made unhappy. But I depend on you and I love you.