"Children ensnared me the moment I connected fatherhood with loss, but I am not sure I would have noticed that if I hadn't been immersed in this research. Encountering so much strange love, I fell into its bewitching patterns and saw how splendor can illuminate even the most abject vulnerabilities. I had witnessed and learned the terrifying joy of unbearable responsibility, recognized how it conquers everything else. Sometimes, I had thought the heroic parents in this book were fools, enslaving themselves to a life's journey with their alien children, trying to breed identity out of misery. I was startled to learn that my research had built me a plank, and that I was ready to join them on their ship."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Novelists from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesJournalists from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesPeople from New York City
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 12 Father, p. 702.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Solomon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Andrew Solomon
15 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Andrew Solomon →
Related Quotes
"In the subconscious fantasies that make conception look so alluring, it is often ourselves that we would like to see …"
"We depend on the guarantee in our children's faces that we will not die. Children whose defining quality annihilates …"
"Our children are not us: they carry throwback genes and recessive traits and are subject right from the start to envi…"
"Insofar as our children resemble us, they are our most precious admirers, and insofar as they differ, they can be our…"
"Difference unites us. While each of these experiences can isolate those who are affected, together they compose an ag…"
"When parents say, "I wish my child did not have autism," what they're really saying is "I wish the autistic child I h…"
""I'm not responsible for my child and who she's become, but I am responsible to her, and she is a wonderful person. I…"
"I started this book to forgive my parents and ended it by becoming a parent. Understanding backward liberated me to l…"
"A wise psychiatrist once said to me, "People want to get better, but they don't want to change." But I would propose …"
"I think all love is one-third projection and one-third acceptance and never more than one-third knowledge and insight."