Mother Quotes

“It is history that tells us who we are… it is only history that can put us and everything we know into context…”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“I used to think listening was a privilege – to have another person entrust to you their darkest secrets, their vulnerabilities, the private insanities we all have. There’s an intimacy that comes with that. Love comes with that. It could be that love is not possible without it. I don’t see listening that way any more obviously. But what choice did I have? He came to me; he trusted me – what else could I do? Once he’d started, I saw the momentum gather within him like a blackening cloud. And then, my God, the words fell like rain. Slowly, then faster: a million beaded droplets in the longest, heaviest downpour. And I took that sodden weight from him with love.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“I always thought I loved him because he was good, a good person. But now I think it is because from the moment I met him he told me that I was good, and of course I wanted to see myself that way too.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“If writing is therapy, then in its pages I am my own counsellor.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“The thing he's learnt, the thing he knows above all else, is that with enough determination and persistence, you will get whatever it is you want. You decide what it is, you focus on it and you go get it. It is that simple.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“The plant that blooms no matter how many times it is cut down, and still the weed sits there trying to poison it.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“But sometimes, when we lay our hopes for happiness in another person, we become blind. To others, to ourselves. That kind of happiness cannot last. It did not. It could not.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“Her lightness took away his weight, he said. Her love untangled the rope.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“Love is where the idle mind wanders.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“But it's always a risk, isn't it, reaching out to someone? Simply telling a person you love them, in whatever context, is to expose yourself to any damage they might wish to do to you, should they so choose.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“And it strikes me now, years later, that not finding the words to say what we need to say is one of life's biggest tragedies.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“I find it's often the way that the hopes of someone you love are heavier to bear than your own.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“If you never get to know a person well, you can keep them in your mind as a kind of idealised dream.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“We're all a work of art for someone who loves us.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother

“You see, mate,’ said Adam. ‘It’s not that bad. But you are as tense as a tightrope. Try and relax, will you, for crying out loud. At least try. I’m not here to jump you –this is what this position says. I’m your friend, it says, you can trust me, all that.”
― S.E. Lynes, Mother