Jonathan Raban Quotes

I still vividly remember the moment I let go of an embrace with my daughter on her college campus - that, in her opinion, probably lasted far too long. I left the most precious thing in my life in the care of an institution, and that's a very hard thing to do.

Once you're done with the film, it's almost like empty nest syndrome: your kid has moved out of the house.

This is the pain-pleasure of having newly adult children; they're innocent and ruthless in forgetting their sweet old dependence.

If you live for your children, they may be smitten down and leave you desolate, or, what is far worse, they may desert you and leave you worse than childless in a cold and unfeeling world.

I just can't stand the fact that they're going out on their own - I love having my kids around, and I'm angry at them for going out and becoming independent. I want to tuck them in and drive them to school in the morning, but they just won't let me do that anymore.

For me, often, there's such a cloud of melancholia about knowing I'm going to have to leave my daughter on her own. I don't know what age that is going to be, thank God. It just doubles me up in grief.

People make a lot of jokes about the empty nest. Let me tell you, it is no laughing matter. It is really hard.

I thought that would go without saying, that if a mother gives up her children, it's very painful.

Everyone has relationships. Breakups are hard. Everyone graduates from school.

I don't think breakups are ever easy for anybody. If they are, they aren't much of a breakup.

I don't do well with my children leaving the nest.

There is no use in loving things if you have to be torn from them, is there? And it's so hard to keep from loving things, isn't it?

If you have to go away,' she said,'is it absolutely necessary to kill off everything you leave behind? I mean do you have to take away everything?

Letting go of someone we love is the hardest thing we will ever do. Some people never surrender to love for the fear of being hurt. But to not have loved, to not have felt the immense joy it brings, would have been a far worse kind of death.

No one teaches you how to do this. How do you let go of someone who you love so much?

I lost you once, I think I can do it again.

He was suffering from the loss of an illusion.

To be left behind... or to leave behind. I wonder which hurts more.

Truth is, something that I thought was perfect was taken away from me, and I never wanted perfect again. I wanted middle of the road, stuff I didn’t care about so that I couldn’t lose anything I really loved ever again.

You who have inhabited me in the deepest and most broken place, are going, going

you'll see, jαne,' he promised her. 'you'll forget me, αnd it won't hurt tomorrow. besides, you sαid it yourself: love meαns you cαn never be αpαrt. so we'll never be αpαrt, jαne, becαuse i love you so much. i'll αlwαys, αlwαys love you.

I kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me.

your letters got sadder. your lovers betrayed you. kid, I wrote back, all lovers betray. it didn't help. you said you had a crying bench and it was by a bridge and the bridge was over the river and you sat on the crying bench every night and wept for the lovers who had hurt and forgotten you.

You keep waiting for the heaviness to leave you. You keep waiting for the moment you never think about the ex again. It doesn't come.

The better you are as a parent, the richer the nest you've built, the more difficult it is for your kids to leave. So they have to invent things to dislike about you. And they're brilliant at it.