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Judith Viorst

Judith Viorst Quotes

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Famous Judith Viorst Quotes

“Indeed, analyst Robert Bak calls orgasm "the perfect promise between love and death," the means by which we repatriate separation of mother and child through the momentary extinction of the self. It is true that few of us consciously climb into a lover's bed in the hope of finding our mommy between the sheets. But the sexual loss of our separateness (which may scare people so badly they cannot have orgasm) brings us pleasure, in part, because it unconsciously repeats our first connection.”

LoveDeathMotherSeparationOnenessPsychoanalysisPsychotherapyOrgasm
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves, Illusions, Dependencies, and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow
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“Levamos para o casamento uma infinidade de expectativas ro- mânticas. As vezes, também visões de míticos êxtases sexuais. E impomos à nossa vida sexual muitas outras expectativas, muitos outros "devia ser", que o ato quotidiano do amor não consegue realizar. A terra devia tremer. Nossos ossos deviam cantar. Fogos de artifício deviam explodir. O ser consciente — o eu — devia ser queimado na pira do amor. Devíamos alcançar o paraíso, ou um fac-símile razoável. Nós nos desapontamos.”

MorteLutoCasamentoPerdasJudith Virose
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves, Illusions, Dependencies, and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow
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“We lost not only through death, but also by leaving and being left, by changing and letting go and moving on. And our losses include not only our separations and departures from those we love, but our conscious and unconscious losses of romantic dreams, impossible expectations, illusions of freedom and power, illusions of safety -- and the loss of our own younger self, the self that thought it would always be unwrinkled and invulnerable and immortal.”

SelfDreamMovingLostLeftLossImpossibleLetting GoIllusionExpectationsConsciousSafetyLeavingSeparationUnconsciousImmortalDepartureThose We LoveLetting Go And Moving OnConscious And UnconsciousYounger SelfIllusion Of Freedom
Author:Judith Viorst
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“as we acquire new aches and new pains, our health care is, of necessity, being supplied by internists, cardiologists, dermatologists, podiatrists, urologists, periodontists, gynecologists and psychiatrists, from all of whom we want a second opinion. We want a second opinion that says, don't worry, you are going to live forever.”

WantLifeCarePainOpinionWorryForeverHealthHealth CareAcquireAchePsychiatristLive ForeverGynecologistsCardiologist
Author:Judith Viorst
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“Somewhere slightly before or after the close of our second decade, we reach a momentous milestone--childhood's end. We have left asafe place and can't go home again. We have moved into a world where life isn't fair, where life is rarely what it should be.”

WorldShouldEndsHomeLife IsLeftGrowing UpChildhoodFairsMovedDecadesMilestone
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“Our ego ideal is precious to us because it repairs a loss of our earlier childhood, the loss of our image of self as perfect and whole, the loss of a major portion of our infantile, limitless, ain't-I-wonderful narcissism which we had to give up in the face of compelling reality. Modified and reshaped into ethical goals and moral standards and a vision of what at our finest we might be, our dream of perfection lives on--our lost narcissism lives on--in our ego ideal.”

GivingSelfWholeDreamRealityMightFacesLostGoalLossPerfectMoralVisionGrowing UpWonderfulChildhoodEgoGiving UpMajorsStandardsIdealsPerfectionEthicalPortionsNarcissismCompellingFinestOur DreamsLimitlessInfantile
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“Our father presents an optional set of rhythms and responses for us to connect to. As a second home base, he makes it safer to roam. With him as an ally--a love--it is safer, too, to show that we're mad when we're mad at our mother. We can hate and not be abandoned, hate and still love.”

StillsShowsHomeMotherHateFatherMadResponseRhythmAlliesAbandonedOur FatherOptionalHome Base
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“Just as children, step by step, must separate from their parents, we will have to separate from them. And we will probably suffer...from some degree of separation anxiety: because separation ends sweet symbiosis. Because separation reduces our power and control. Because separation makes us feel less needed, less important. And because separation exposes our children to danger.”

FeelsChildrenImportantEndsSufferingParentStepsDangerSweetNeededDegreesAnxietyOur ChildrenSeparationPower And ControlSymbiosis
Author:Judith Viorst
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“We can glut ourselves with how-to-raise children information . . . strive to become more mature and aware but none of this will spare us from the . . . inevitability that some of the time we are going to fail our children. Because there is a big gap between knowing and doing. Because mature, aware people are imperfect too. Or because some current event in our life may so absorb or depress us that when our children need us we cannot come through.”

PeopleNeedsMayChildrenBigsKnowingOur LivesFailingEventsInformationOur ChildrenRaisesStriveCurrentsMatureGapsParenthoodImperfectDepressingSparesInevitabilityCurrent EventsKnowing And Doing
Author:Judith Viorst
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“Eventually we will learn that the loss of indivisible love is another of our necessary losses, that loving extends beyond the mother-child pair, that most of the love we receive in this world is love we will have to share--and that sharing begins at home, with our sibling rivals.”

WorldChildrenHomeMotherLossLove IsShareThis WorldPairsRivalsSiblingRivalryIndivisibleSibling RivalryMother Child
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“We have to divide mother love with our brothers and sisters. Our parents can help us cope with the loss of our dream of absolute love. But they cannot make us believe that we haven't lost it.”

BelieveHelpingDreamMotherLostParentLossHavensBrotherAbsolutesDividesBrothers And SistersOur DreamsSiblingRivalryMother LoveSibling RivalryAbsolute Love
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“Control cannot be called conscience until we are able to take it inside us and make it our own, until--in spite of the fact that the wrongs we have done or imagined will never be punished or known--we nonetheless feel that the clutch in the stomach, that chill upon the soul, that self-inflicted misery called guilt.”

FeelsSoulSelfDoneFactsAbleKnownConscienceGuiltMiserySpiteStomachChillClutchSelf Inflicted
Book:Necessary Losses: The Loves Illusions Dependencies and Impossible Ex
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“Serious skeptics, true believers, and seekers of every stripe will want to read Mitch Horowitz's vibrant, probing, and richly researched account of the impact of the positive-thinking movement on every aspect of American life today. Filled with a cast of remarkable characters and many lively tales, One Simple Idea is a readable, responsible examination of the limits and possibilities of mind-power as a source of constructive transformation.”

ThinkingWantMindIdeasCharacterTodaySimpleMovementPossibilityPositive ThinkingSeriousSourceLimitsAspectAccountsTransformationResponsibleImpactFilledCastsBelieverTalesRemarkableSeekersExaminationConstructiveLivelySkepticAmerican LifeStripesTrue BelieverPower Of The MindProbingSimple Ideas
Author:Judith Viorst
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“We grow because the clamorous, permanent presence of our children forces us to put their needs before ours. We grow because our love for our children urges us to change as nothing else in our lives has the power to do. We grow (if we're willing to grow, that is: not every parent is willing) because being a parent helps us stop being a child.”

IfsNeedsChildrenHelpingForceGrowsParentOur LivesWillingOur ChildrenPermanentUrgesOur LoveBeing A ParentLove Our Children
Author:Judith Viorst
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“One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again.”

LoveTogetherFallMarriageLove YouAdvantageFalling In LoveDivorceMy WifeI Love YouBeing MarriedMarriage AdviceFunny MarriageYour HusbandHappy MarriageLove And MarriagePositive MarriageMarriage LoveBeing TogetherGreat MarriageFunny Valentines DayLove AgainInspirational MarriageBest MarriageFunny ValentineFunny WeddingHappy Valentines Day FunnyHappy DivorceMarriage And FamilyHealthy MarriageFunny Valentines Day CardWives LoveGreat WifeLove Your WifeHappy Marriage AdviceHusband To BeMarriage WisdomFalling In Love AgainSex Before Marriage
Book:Love and Guilt and the Meaning of Life, Etc.
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“Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.”

LoveFunnyLove IsHigherTaxesPatternsAccidentsValentineValentine's DayAutomobilePhiladelphiaBest LoveFunny LoveFunny Valentines DayRomantic Valentines DayFunny ValentineSt ValentineBracketsHappy Valentines Day FunnySweet ValentineLight HeartedFunny Single Valentines DayGirdlesFunny Valentines Day CardHumorous ValentineFunny RomanticHigher CallingHumor LoveSilly Love
Author:Judith Viorst
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“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

RunningWaterSleepMistakeMorningHairTerribleBedMouthsHorribleBad DaySweatersGum
Book:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: A Musical Based on the Book by Judith Viorst
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“I had it together on Sunday. By Monday at noon it had cracked. On Tuesday debris Was descending on me. And by Wednesday no part was intact. On Thursday I picked up some pieces. On Friday I picked up the rest. By Saturday, late, It was almost set straight. And on Sunday the world was impressed With how well I had got it together.”

WorldWellsTogetherPiecesLateSundayImpressedSaturdayMondayFridayNoonCrackedTuesdayWednesdayThursdayDescendingDebris
Book:Suddenly Sixty and Other Shocks of Later Life
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