“It cannot be doubted that theistic belief is a comfort and a solace to those who hold it, and that the loss of it is a very painful loss. It cannot be doubted, at least, by many of us in this generation, who either profess it now, or received it in our childhood and have parted from it since with such searching trouble as only cradle-faiths can cause. We have seen the spring sun shine out of an empty heaven, to light up a soulless earth; we have felt with utter loneliness that the Great Companion is dead.” LightEarthBeliefHeavenFeltCausesLossSunGenerationsTroubleAtheismChildhoodLonelinessComfortSpringEmptyOur ChildrenShiningPainfulPositive AtheismCompanionCradleSolaceDoubtedLight UpThis GenerationSun ShinesSoulless Book:The Ethics of Belief and Other Essays Source: The Ethics of Belief and Other Essays
“Childhood is less clear to me than to many people: when it ended I turned my face away from it for no reason that I know about, certainly without the usual reason of unhappy memories. For many years that worried me, but then I discovered that the tales of former children are seldom to be trusted. Some people supply too many past victories or pleasures with which to comfort themselves, and other people cling to pains, real and imagined, to excuse what they have become.” PeopleKnowsYearsChildrenRealReasonPainPastFacesMemoriesPleasureClearChildhoodVictoryComfortExcuseUnhappyTalesFormerWorriedNo ReasonUsualTrustedHappy Memories Author:Lillian Hellman
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formation--these tasks that once were thought to belong to childhood and adolescence alone now are recognized as part of adult life as well. Gone is the belief that adulthood is, or ought to be, a time of internal peace and comfort, that growing pains belong only to the young; gone the belief that these are marker events--a job, a mate, a child--through which we will pass into a life of relative ease.” WellsChildrenPainJobsYoungBeliefGrowthGoneGrowingChildhoodEventsIdentityDevelopmentOughtComfortAdultsTasksEaseInternalsRelativeMatesAdulthoodAdolescenceFormationMarkersGrowing PainsPersonal ChangeChange GrowthInternal Peace Author:Lillian B. Rubin
“Because I was in psychiatric treatment for most of my childhood and had to learn English and had to adjust to a white-dominated society, I truly know what being Sudanese refugees [adopting by white family] mean. It's not something that you can explain in the confines of an interview, but there is an immediate comfort, a connection between black phenotypes that is natural.” KnowsMeanBlackNaturalWhiteChildhoodComfortConnectionsInterviewsTreatmentRefugeeAdoptingPsychiatric Author:Kola Boof
“The angels started visiting and helping me as far back as I can remember. I was lonely a lot in my childhood and the angels would come and comfort me, and help me to feel better, and at the same time they would also take me to places. I literally mean they would take me on a journey and tell me things.” FeelsMeanI CanHelpingRememberJourneyChildhoodComfortAngelLonelyHelp MeTake MeFeel BetterVisiting Author:Doreen Virtue
“We have opted for petty determinisms - childhood trauma, genetic inheritance, social conditioning, etc. - that have made us comparatively passive. We seem to prefer to find excuses - which are really nothing more than the embrace of determinism, a sort of Stockholm syndrome relative to whatever we can claim as limitation. I am fascinated by the more enabling self-understanding. It has helped me to find my way out of the cloying comforts that are offered by prevalent psychological models.” ChildhoodComfortEmbraceExcuseTraumaPsychologicalMy WayLimitationRelativePassiveDeterminism Author:Marilynne Robinson
“The stirrings of morality emerge early in childhood. Toddlers spontaneously offer toys and help to others and try to comfort people they see in distress.” PeopleTryingHelpingChildhoodMoralityComfortOffersEthicsToysDistressStirringToddler Author:Steven Pinker
“After a while, footsteps sounded on the flagstones outside and there was a gentle tap at the door. Of course, one of them would come. So close were we, the seven of us, that no childhood injury went unnoticed, no slight, real or imagined, went unaddressed, no hurt was endured without comfort.” RealCoursesHurtDoorsChildhoodComfortSevenGentleInjuryFootstepsUnnoticed Book:Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Source: Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy
“Kids take you outside your comfort level because you ask yourself, 'How do I answer that question for them?' You think back to your childhood, and it's like: I don't want to give them that, I want to give them this. My life is my children.” ThinkingWantGivingChildrenKidsLife IsAsksAnswersLevelsChildhoodDadComfortMy ChildrenYour Children Author:Patrick Dempsey