Avoidance Quotes

“Forgive my indifference; I'd rather be distant than devastated.”
― Ahmed Mostafa

“Summer would not last forever; he knew it and Ronia knew it. But now they began to live as if it would, and as far as possible they pushed away all painful thoughts of winter.”
― Astrid Lindgren, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

“We live in a society where people are often more offended by those who point out child abuse than by the abuse itself. In other words, society does not view abuse as the problem; the problem is you pointing it out. Society's basic mindset is that "If we don't talk about abuse, then it's not happening." Similarly, children are attacked when they point out the dysfunction around them.”
― Darius Cikanavicius, Human Development and Trauma: How Childhood Shapes Us into Who We Are as Adults

“It was already getting dark out, but I kept my sunglasses on. I didn't want to have to look anybody in the eye. I didn't want to relate to anybody too keenly. Plus, the fluorescent lights at the drug store were blinding. If I could have purchased my medications from a vending machine, I would have paid double for them.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“One might have all sorts of reasons for avoiding people. It's none of our business.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Green Knight

“I must stop remembering... The more I remember, the greater my agony. These thoughts stuttered in my mind...

I must be more watchful, I told myself. I must shut them out.

I couldn't always keep this up.”
― Sonali Deraniyagala, Wave

“I just wanted to sleep all the time. I had a plan.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“I don't want to say hello, nor do I want him to know that I've seen him and failed to say hello.”
― Sara Baume, A Line Made By Walking

“the reality of being here eludes me, I can’t focus, I am dazed. And I want to stay this way. If I have too much clarity, I will be undone, I fear.”
― Sonali Deraniyagala, Wave

“I had no desire to be seen by anyone, or talk to anyone. Sometimes out walking I would be in such a peculiar state of mind that I would rush home at the merest hint of another person.”
― Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture

“I kept my head down, away from the biting air and the joy of the holiday. I didn't want to be reminded of Christmases past. No associations, no heartstrings snagged on a tree in a window, no memories.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“To live a fantasy is to avoid a life.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I would rather make the wrong decision and correct it, rather than make no decision which leaves me nothing to correct.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Russian Dolls: How we hide those parts of ourselves, the ones that we can conceal, is by constructing an elaborate emotional infrastructure not unlike nested Russian dolls. True healing requires going through all the hidden layers.”
― Helen S. Rosenau, The Messy Joys of Being Human: A Guide to Risking Change and Becoming Happier

“It’s not avoidance if you actively plan to pursue it. Someday.”
― T.J. Klune

“What I’ve deemed as impossible is more the fiction I’ve created to avoid the failure I fear.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The ‘easy way’ is our laziness trying to find a solution by ‘working hard’ to side-step the problem.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I imagine that one of the reasons that people cling to their hate and prejudice so stubbornly, is that they sense that once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with their own pain.”
― James Baldwin

“The worst person to get away from is oneself.”
― Donna Goddard, Circles of Separation

“I steered clear of anything that might pique my intellect or make me envious or anxious. I kept my head down.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“This is the problem about thinking about something else to take your mind off something. It works for a little while, but in the end you always come back to the thing you were trying not to think about, only now whatever it was is worse.”
― Marcelo Figueras, Kamchatka

“I must stop remembering. I must keep them in a faraway place. The more I remember, the greater my agony. These thoughts stuttered in my mind. So I stopped talking about them, I wouldn't mouth my boys' names, I shoved away stories of them. Let them, let our life, become as unreal as that wave.”
― Sonali Deraniyagala

“Smart people avoid smart meters.”
― Steven Magee

“People like to believe that they have several options open to them, but this is only a justification for attempting to avoid their battles. A warrior understands the folly of seeking escapisms, for he knows the world is pervaded by power, which comes at him like the waves of the sea. He either mounts the crest of those waves and surfs them, or he goes down under.”
― Théun Mares, Cry of the Eagle: The Toltec Teachings Volume 2

“Bellamy thought, he is beginning to avoid me, my presence embarrasses him, my problems irritate him. I am becoming an unperson.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Green Knight

“He'd often come here to think. Occasionally he even used the toilet for its intended purpose, but mostly he came here to get away.”
― D.J. MacHale, The Merchant of Death

“Nope. She was out of her mind, and I was out of here before I got dragged along on her crazy train.”
― V.M. Marsh, Concealed by Magic

“Nobody Home: With feelings there's no easy con. You're either willing to ante up or you're not. You're either ready to be present with what's happening or you kick the problem into your future”
― Helen S. Rosenau, The Messy Joys of Being Human: A Guide to Risking Change and Becoming Happier

“Nobody Home: Until we're ready, we're pretty much primed for denial. Even on the river of change, we're most of us slow rowers.”
― Helen S. Rosenau, The Messy Joys of Being Human: A Guide to Risking Change and Becoming Happier

“Russian Dolls: One excellent thing about being human is that we're fast learners. When we find a trick that works, we practice it, even if the skill means being better at avoiding karmic homework than facing or resolving it.”
― Helen S. Rosenau, The Messy Joys of Being Human: A Guide to Risking Change and Becoming Happier