Geography of the Heart Quotes

“To love is to willingly lower our defenses, a terrifying prospect any time and place but especially so at a time and in a place where we perceive ourselves as having so much (HIV; violence; social; cultural; environmental degradation) to defend ourselves against. To love is to give oneself to another, to entrust to someone else a power that all good sense would have us reserve to ourselves. So we give away some part of ourselves, to find that part returned to us tenfold, in ways we could never have predicted and cannot rationally understand. Loaves and fishes. Miracles happen.”
― Fenton Johnson, Geography of the Heart: A Memoir

“Love is like a ripe peach. You take it when and where you find it, there's no point in letting it sit around. If you're lucky to come across it, you'd better enjoy it right then and there.”
― Fenton Johnson, Geography of the Heart: A Memoir