“There were times, she would admit, when for all her heroic independence, her sacred resilience, she would have liked to trust her weight to the love of another person like that. To fall backwards in absolute security. Bu she had only known doubting love. Love that needed to be weighed against what it cost. She was exhausted. Everything was so hard.” LoveRelationshipsSecurityTrustExhaustionPanenkaHession Book:Panenka Source: Panenka
“He had entered a selfish period of survival, [...]. They had rained love on him, willing him to open up and accept their support, but it all bounced back off the carapace that had formed around his wounded inner self. The tragedy during that time was that he neither let them in nor let them go. But what else is possible for a man unable to solve his own sadness?” LoveRelationshipsSupportSadnessSurvivalPanenkaHession Book:Panenka Source: Panenka
“But isn't that what allowing yourself be loved is all about -- letting something greater than fear into your life?” LoveFearRelationshipsPanenka Book:Panenka Source: Panenka
“For so long I was afraid to stay close to anybody because I had so much anger and confusion inside me. I knew that I couldn't let anyone into my life until all that had passed. The problem I could never solve was how to relate to people in the meantime. Other people's love is frightening when you're suffering. It's overwhelming. When you're consumed with the effort of processing internal pain, it becomes impossible to do anything else. It's like holding your breath under water: you realise that you need to breathe but if you breathe at the wrong time, you drown. I only survived thanks to the people in my life -- people I repaid by letting them down.” LovePainRelationshipsDepressionAngerConfusionPanenkaHession Book:Panenka Source: Panenka
“Life should always be like that. Resting safely, with someone looking over you, attending to the little indulgences that loved people enjoy” LoveLifeFamily Book:Panenka Source: Panenka
“Do you know what resonance is?' 'Resonance?' 'It's as though one person sounds a bell in their heart, and if the other person has the same bell inside them, it rings too.' 'I see,' he said to her reflection. 'So,' she continued, 'that's how you can recognise something in someone, even if you know nothing about them.” PeopleLoveRelationshipsFriendshipPanenkaHession Book:Panenka Source: Panenka