Being Understood Quotes

“When you are in psychological distress and someone really hears you without passing judgement on you, without trying to take responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels damn good!”
― Carl R. Rogers, A Way of Being

“I'm afraid that you'll never understand me fully, and because of that, sometimes you'll be frightened, disgusted, annoyed, or pleased.”
― Jack Kerouac, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters

“People do not know what to make of me, and this pleases me. I don't want to be scrutable.”
― Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts

“At times I've struggled to feel seen, to have my history feel seen, to have where I come from feel seen because I 'turned out great.' But that doesn't meant that I Am Fine. I am working every day, tirelessly, like you wouldn't believe, on being fine, f**king finally, can we get this over with, I'm so tired and I just want to travel and eat and smile and move through the world with a semblance of peace.”
― Lane Moore, How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't

“I think what I want is for someone to know me. Really know me. Know me better than anyone else and maybe even me. Isn't that why we commit to another? It's not for sex. If it were for sex, we wouldn't marry one person. We'd just keep finding new partners. We commit for many reasons, I know, but the more I think about it, the more I think long-term relationships are for getting to know someone. I want someone to know me, really know me, almost like that person could get into my head. What would that feel like? To rely on someone else, have him rely on you. That's not a biological connection like the one between parents and children. This kind of relationship would be chosen. It would be something cooler, harder to achieve than one built on biology and shared genetics.”
― Iain Reid, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

“The picture made me heartsick.

What could it be like, shut up inside with everything you feel – never having the relief of expression, never sharing anything or releasing anything or trying it out on somebody else? Never asking questions? Only yourself to talk to. Only yourself to listen. Never to be understood.

Understood.

Not to be loved for what you are. Never to be known.”
― Kristen D. Randle, The Only Alien on the Planet

“The desire to be better understood has been extinguished from my heart.”
― Jean Jacques Rousseau

“She wasn't sure she'd ever felt anyone understood her. For the first time in her life, she wanted someone to know her.”
― Melanie Dickerson, The Piper's Pursuit

“As her eyes met his, Grace took strength in that feeling of understanding, which she now knew to be another form of love. Being understood, appreciated, and not judged: these, surely, were the cornerstones of real love. The love that helps us forth in life, no matter what it throws at us, no matter what we lose.”
― Natalie Jenner, Bloomsbury Girls

“Maybe sometimes it feels like “What impact can I have in this world? I am only one person and most people don't understand me.” But everyone can use their voice to say their something- through whatever medium that is. There will always be someone who understands your language and appreciates your message.”
― Elizabeth Tambascio

“The aim of all autobiographical works writing is apologetics, the saying, too late, of the things that should have been said. It is, of course, a foolish task, born of a desperate desire to be understood. Ultimately, it is a futile one as well, doomed from the outset by an innate dishonesty. Sometimes i think that the only honest writer was Lao Tzu, who had the good sense to admit in defeat in the first line of the Tao Te Ching: "Existence is beyond the power of words to describe."

And yet, there is the hope that we may, at times, go beyond mere expression and actually say something useful.”
― Robert Leo Heilman, Overstory: Zero : Real Life in Timber Country

“It is an enormous mistake to assume that what the translator conveys is what the speaker intended, and it is equally foolish to assume that what you intended to say is what will be understood.”
― Rory Sutherland, Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

“Consider yourself very lucky if you find a thousand people to understand you when you say a thought that will happen a thousand years from now!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The profound sense of being understood, deciphered, and accepted overwhelmed me.”
― Neda Aria, Bella Donna

“Sal somehow understood what I needed without making me feel weird about it first, and now I think I might be about to cry.”
― Holly Smale, Cassandra in Reverse

“I squinted at every dappled leaf in the mulberry wood, hoping to see leopard eyes looking back. Imagine how unlikely it is for two creatures of any kind to see each other--through the shadows of the woods--eyes connecting, attention ready. For a moment like that all the universe would have to conspire to move all its pieces and line them up just so.

I think a person gets seen, really looked at, looked into, seen the way a leopard would see into you, maybe ten times in their entire life.

And even then, who knows what a leopard would be thinking.”
― Daniel Nayeri, Everything Sad Is Untrue