Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Giles Blunt

Quote by Giles Blunt

“Eskimos, it is said, have forty different words for snow. Never mind about snow, Cardinal mused, what people really need is forty words for sorrow. Grief. Heartbreak. Desolation”

Quote by Giles Blunt

Work

Forty Words for Sorrow

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Giles Blunt
Giles Blunt

Giles Blunt is a renowned Canadian novelist known for his vivid portrayal of rural Canadian life. His works often focus on the psychological and social backgrounds of characters, enjoying great popularity among readers. more

You May Also Like

“I got down on my knees, in the hallway of the hotel, and bawled my eyes out. She pulled me inside. "Take me back, Celia, I begged her. "Take me back, and I'll give the rest of it up. I'll give up everything but Connor. I won't ever act again. I’ll let the world know about us. I'm ready to give you all of me. Please” Celia listened. But then she very calmly sat down in the chair by the bed and said, "Evelyn, you are not capable of giving it up. And you never will be. And it will be the tragedy of my life that I cannot love you enough to make you mine. That you cannot be loved enough to be anyone's" I stood there for a moment longer, waiting for her to say something else. But she didn't. She had nothing else to say. And there was nothing I could say that would change her mind. Facing reality, I got hold of myself, held in my tears, kissed her on her temple, and walked away. I got back on the plane to New York, hiding my pain. And it wasn’t until I was back in my apartment that I lost it. Sobbing as if she'd died. That's how final it felt. I had pushed her too far. And it was over.”

“We have negative mental habits that come up over and over again. One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future. Perhaps we got this from our parents. Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these "conditions of happiness" we want to have in the future; and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. We may have fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now.”

“Was I heartbroken or furious? I didn’t know. I did know: that’s it. Our relationship could not continue like this, out of balance, unequal. And as surely as I knew this, I knew something else: But of course it can. We can continue to live exactly as we do right now, in a heavy-lidded state of love and unspeakable compromise. Isn’t that what people do? Every day? Don’t they ache but rename it tired? It made me wonder: Was it even fair to expect the person you’re with to be just as happy as you? Furthermore, how could you ever even know for sure? You couldn’t, was the truth of it. You could not know this.”