Mae Whitman Quotes

I think more than anything, people just want to be understood.

We're alone, but we are capable of communicating to one another both our loneliness and our desire to break through it. You say, 'I'm alone.' Someone answers, 'I'm alone too.' There's a shift in the scale of power. A bridge is thrown between the two abysses.

All I want is for people, when they read my books, to feel companioned, to feel they're not alone in the world.

It definitely seems like we are connecting with people, which is nice, because I've had a lot of music do the same for me. It's not like I don't I understand why we get the reactions we do.

Basic emotions can be conveyed through anything. As long as you show people that you're human, they'll relate to it.

I love that idea that if you know someone's story, it's impossible not to love them. This is potentially hokey but incredibly true, as far as I'm concerned.

My music is straightforward because I want to give people me and let them know they're not alone in going through the things that they go through.

What people really want, no matter who they are, is someone to listen to them. ... people have a lot on their minds, however trivial, and if you're simply willing to sit there like a sack of dirt and let them yammer, they will tell it to you.

I think I was able to talk to people about values in ways that people - in ways that resonated with folks.

That's why we read fiction, isn't it? To remind us that whatever we suffer, we're not the only ones?

It's strange how we always want other people to feel what we feel. It must be a basic human drive. Misery loves company, right? Or when you see a movie that you love, don't you want to drag all your friends to see it as well? Because it's only good the second time if it's the first time for somebody else—as if their experience somehow resonates inside of you.

I read to see myself in other people's lives.

A lot of people have told me, you know, that what I've written about, they identify with strongly.

A poem is a window that hangs between two or more human beings who otherwise live in darkened rooms.

What most people really want is to be listened to, respected, and understood.

I think everybody wants to connect. There is nothing worse than feeling disconnected. And stories that really move people and make people care are the ones where they feel some sort of connection.

How has anyone ever understood anyone, except through love, which is wordless?

The voice of life in me cannot reach the ear of life in you; but let us talk that we may not feel lonely.

For me, I think it's such an important thing to hear other people's stories, because you do find ways that either you can learn something from them, or you can identify with something that they've gone through. You realize that maybe what you're going through in life isn't just specific to you, that somebody else understands it, or you talk to someone and all of sudden you see something in a completely different way because of what they've said to you or shared with you.

I have never met a person in whom I did not see myself reflected.

I've never been interested in things that sparkle and shine; I'm more interested in people.

People are people, and they want to know about their own experiences.

To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it.

I've found that the common humanity of people is the most relatable thing, and even if your stories are very specific about a different place, if you have a relatable core of humanity, people will go along with it.

I traffic in empathy. I try to be vulnerable with people so they can be vulnerable back. I've always been searching for empathy in other people. It's when I feel most not alone.