59 Quotes by Adam Phillips

There is always a ..belief that by destroying the thing that we love we destroy our needs

The wish to be understood may be our most vengeful demand, may be the way we hang on, as asults, to our grudge against our mothers; the way we never let our mothers off the hook for their not meeting our every need. Wanting to be understood, as adults, can be our most violent form of nostalgia.

It's really obvious how strong the U.S. voice is in the United Nations. What the U.S. says and does can cripple or bring life to the programs that can help poor people across the world. So as an American, I feel compelled to raise my voice out of love for the neighbor who doesn't have that opportunity.

The fight to end Global Poverty goes beyond today, goes beyond this week. The Millennium Development Goals seek to put an end to extreme poverty, where people live on less than $1 a day,

We have been taught to wish for it, but the wish to be understood may be our most vengeful demand, may be the way we hang on, as adults , to our grudge against our mothers; the way we never let our mothers off the hook for their not meeting our every need. Wanting to be understood, as adults, can be our most violent form of nostalgia.

And reality matters because it is the only thing that can satisfy us.

We make ourselves out of the demands others make of us, and out of whatever else we can use.

Our excesses are the best clue we have to our own poverty, and our best way of concealing it from ourselves.

Transgression is a quest for solitude.