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Caroline Knapp Quotes

I’m 38 and I’m single, and I’m having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in different ways, and this way happens to be mine Picture Quote #1

Was he smart enough? Introspective enough? Was it just enough to love him, or should I attach myself to someone who seemed farther ahead of me, someone smarter and more ambitious than me, who’d be sure to carry me along into the version of adulthood I thought I should be striving for? Picture Quote #1

There’s something about sober living and sober thinking, about facing long afternoons without the numbing distraction of anesthesia that disabuses you of the belief in the externals, shows you that strength and hope come not from circumstances or the acquisition of things, but from the simple accumulation of active experience, from gritting the teeth and checking the items off the list, one by one, even if it’s painful and you’re afraid Picture Quote #1

I’m still prone to periods of isolation, still more fearful of the world out there and more averse to pleasure and risk than I’d like to be; I still direct more energy toward controlling and minimizing appetites than toward indulging them Picture Quote #1

The real struggle is about you: you, a person who has to learn to live in the real world, to inhabit her own skin, to know her own heart, to stop waiting for life to begin Picture Quote #1

Passivity is corrosive to the soul; it feeds on feelings of integrity and pride, and it can be as tempting as a drug Picture Quote #1

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To a drinker the sensation is real and pure and akin to something spiritual: you seek; in the bottle, you find Picture Quote #1

What is this drive to be thinner, prettier, better dressed, other? Who exactly is this other and what does she look like beyond the jacket she’s wearing or the food she’s not eating? What might we be doing, thinking, feeling about if we didn’t think about body image, ever? Picture Quote #1

I once heard a woman who had lost her dog say that she felt as though a color were suddenly missing from her world: the dog had introduced to her field of vision some previously unavailable hue and without a dog, that color was gone. That seemed to capture the experience of loving a dog with eminent simplicity. I’d amend it only slightly and say that if we are open to what they have to give, dogs can introduce us to several colors with names like wildness, nurturance, trust and joy Picture Quote #1

It happened this way: I fell in love and then, because the love was ruining everything I cared about, I had to fall out Picture Quote #1

When you love somebody, or something, its amazing how willing you are to overlook the flaws Picture Quote #1

Dogs have such short life spans, it’s like a concentrated version of a human life. When they get older, they become much more like our mothers. They wait for us, watch out for us, are completely fascinated by everything we do Picture Quote #1

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Before you get a dog, you can’t quite imagine what living with one might be like; afterward, you can’t imagine living any other way Picture Quote #1

For years, I ate the same foods every day, in exactly the same manner, at exactly the same times Picture Quote #1

Happy and alone, you say? Reclusive and merry? How oxymoronic! Pas possible! Alas, the concept is lost on so many Picture Quote #1

I am shy by nature, a person who’s always found something burdensome about human interaction and who probably always will, at least to some degree Picture Quote #1

Solitude is a breeding ground for idiosyncrasy, and I relish that about it, the way it liberates whim Picture Quote #1

A lot of people, quite frankly, think intense attachments to animals are weird and suspect, the domain of people who can’t quite handle attachments to humans Picture Quote #1

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Academic achievement was something I’d always sought as a form of reward. Good grades pleased my parents, good grades pleased my teachers; you got them in order to sew up approval Picture Quote #1

Around the time I began starving, in the early eighties, the visual image had begun to supplant text as culture’s primary mode of communication, a radical change because images work so differently than words: They’re immediate, they hit you at levels way beneath intellect, they come fast and furious Picture Quote #1

The hard things in life, the things you really learn from, happen with a clear mind Picture Quote #1

Desires collide; the wish to eat bumping up against the wish to be thin, the desire to indulge conflicting with the injunction to restrain. Small wonder food makes a woman nervous Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I’m 38 and I’m single, and I’m having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in different ways, and this way happens to be mine (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Was he smart enough? Introspective enough? Was it just enough to love him, or should I attach myself to someone who seemed farther ahead of me, someone smarter and more ambitious than me, who’d be sure to carry me along into the version of adulthood I thought I should be striving for? (Caroline Knapp Quotes) There’s something about sober living and sober thinking, about facing long afternoons without the numbing distraction of anesthesia that disabuses you of the belief in the externals, shows you that strength and hope come not from circumstances or the acquisition of things, but from the simple accumulation of active experience, from gritting the teeth and checking the items off the list, one by one, even if it’s painful and you’re afraid (Caroline Knapp Quotes) I’m still prone to periods of isolation, still more fearful of the world out there and more averse to pleasure and risk than I’d like to be; I still direct more energy toward controlling and minimizing appetites than toward indulging them (Caroline Knapp Quotes) The real struggle is about you: you, a person who has to learn to live in the real world, to inhabit her own skin, to know her own heart, to stop waiting for life to begin (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Passivity is corrosive to the soul; it feeds on feelings of integrity and pride, and it can be as tempting as a drug (Caroline Knapp Quotes) To a drinker the sensation is real and pure and akin to something spiritual: you seek; in the bottle, you find (Caroline Knapp Quotes) What is this drive to be thinner, prettier, better dressed, other? Who exactly is this other and what does she look like beyond the jacket she’s wearing or the food she’s not eating? What might we be doing, thinking, feeling about if we didn’t think about body image, ever? (Caroline Knapp Quotes) I once heard a woman who had lost her dog say that she felt as though a color were suddenly missing from her world: the dog had introduced to her field of vision some previously unavailable hue and without a dog, that color was gone. That seemed to capture the experience of loving a dog with eminent simplicity. I’d amend it only slightly and say that if we are open to what they have to give, dogs can introduce us to several colors with names like wildness, nurturance, trust and joy (Caroline Knapp Quotes) It happened this way: I fell in love and then, because the love was ruining everything I cared about, I had to fall out (Caroline Knapp Quotes) When you love somebody, or something, its amazing how willing you are to overlook the flaws (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Dogs have such short life spans, it’s like a concentrated version of a human life. When they get older, they become much more like our mothers. They wait for us, watch out for us, are completely fascinated by everything we do (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Before you get a dog, you can’t quite imagine what living with one might be like; afterward, you can’t imagine living any other way (Caroline Knapp Quotes) For years, I ate the same foods every day, in exactly the same manner, at exactly the same times (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Happy and alone, you say? Reclusive and merry? How oxymoronic! Pas possible! Alas, the concept is lost on so many (Caroline Knapp Quotes) I am shy by nature, a person who’s always found something burdensome about human interaction and who probably always will, at least to some degree (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Solitude is a breeding ground for idiosyncrasy, and I relish that about it, the way it liberates whim (Caroline Knapp Quotes) A lot of people, quite frankly, think intense attachments to animals are weird and suspect, the domain of people who can’t quite handle attachments to humans (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Academic achievement was something I’d always sought as a form of reward. Good grades pleased my parents, good grades pleased my teachers; you got them in order to sew up approval (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Around the time I began starving, in the early eighties, the visual image had begun to supplant text as culture’s primary mode of communication, a radical change because images work so differently than words: They’re immediate, they hit you at levels way beneath intellect, they come fast and furious (Caroline Knapp Quotes) The hard things in life, the things you really learn from, happen with a clear mind (Caroline Knapp Quotes) Desires collide; the wish to eat bumping up against the wish to be thin, the desire to indulge conflicting with the injunction to restrain. Small wonder food makes a woman nervous (Caroline Knapp Quotes)

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