Respite Quotes

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.”
― Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

“What makes people tick? Life can be a trap of ennui, but imagery may be a redemptive escape from dullness. The iconic power and exuberance of images generate an inexorable addiction that needs to be gratified without respite. Here and now! ("Give me more images")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Life seems to be a process of replacing one anxiety with another and substituting one desire for another--which is not to say that we should never strive to overcome any of our anxieties or fulfil any of our desires, but rather to suggest that we should perhaps build into our strivings an awareness of the way our goals promise us a respite and a resolution that they cannot, by definition, deliver.”
― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety

“Forgive and forget is the divine ideal. Grappling with the hurt while biting your tongue and struggling to refuse justifiable vengeance―that's closer to human reality.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year

“The first week at August's was a consolation, a pure relief. The world will give you that once in a while, a brief time-out; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“Dogs have the power to transform our lives, nurturing trust, ease, and new perspectives. They invite us to reconsider our ways of living and connecting with the world, offering a respite from the complexities of human social life. ("I am young and have no dog")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“...unquestioning automatons
blindly marching to the beat -
an eerie crunching sound
hoards of shuffling feet...

(from silent moments)”
― Muse, Enigmatic Evolution

“Margaux was older and wiser now and knew the waves couldn't fix what was wrong in her life, but at least they might give her some temporary respite.”
― Shelley Noble, Beach Colors

“For a while, neither [Midori] nor her sister could get used to apartment life – because it was too easy, she said. They had always been used to running around like crazy every day, taking care of sick people, helping out at the bookstore, and one thing or another.

"We're finally getting used to it, though," she said. "This is the way we should have been living all along – not having to worry about anyone else's needs, just stretching out any way we felt like it. It made us both nervous at first, like our bodies were floating a couple of inches off the floor. It didn't seem real, like real life couldn't really be like that. We were both tense, like everything was gonna get tipped upside down any minute."

"A couple of worrywarts," I said with a smile.

"Well, it's just that life has been too cruel to us till now," Midori said. "But that's O.K. We're gonna get back everything it owes us.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“He could hear the ocean waves nearby soothing and peaceful. His mind never fully rested. Never. But, here he could ease his thoughts away from his past. Away from regrets.”
― Sheila English, Search for a Soul

“We paused and moved again in languid fits, and it went on like that, advancing and sitting, until the tempests left and the overcast passed us; then the sun appeared, and a rainbow arched behind us.

But the rainbow brought no respite.”
― Milan Sime Martinic, Ironway: Watching Over Benjamin Hill -

“He could see it stretching ahead of him, a time of relative quiet in a hidden sietch, a moment of peace between periods of violence.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Against the light, we are travellers carrying
pails of water for our thirst. Who passed before this path,
a friend in the night, looking for water, looking for respite?”
― Sneha Subramanian Kanta

“No symptoms beyond the deep sleep. This girl looks as if the slightest noise might wake her, or the faintest feather of a touch.

Catherine has seen patients rendered similarly lifeless by catatonic depression or by sudden traumatic news. When one's life seems broken beyond repair, there remains one last move: a person can at least shut her eyes.”
― Karen Thompson Walker, The Dreamers

“My sister, she’s one tough bitch. That’s what I tell my friends.”
“I’m a bit concerned you called me a bitch to your friends.”
Gabe chuckled. “Only in a good way. You’re an alpha. But alphas need to rest. And they need to recoup. And they need to cry and be vulnerable and take a break from taking care of everyone.”
― Alisha Rai, The Right Swipe