“A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ourselves want what’s good for us or what’s good for other people. We don’t get to choose the people we are.”

Source: The Goldfinch

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ou…" by Donna Tartt?

Donna Tartt64

American writer 1963

Related quotes

“We can’t choose what we want and don’t want and that’s the hard lonely truth. Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it’s going to kill us. We can’t escape who we are.”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

“As a people, we have the power of choice. We get to choose who we are, what we become and what we do.”

Ibukun Awosika (1962) Nigerian business magnate

Source: https://globalleadership.org/articles/leading-yourself/gls21-notes-only-you-can-choose/?locale=en In her talk at Global Leadership Summit, 2021.

“‘Mandatory’ means forced—at gunpoint, if necessary. When we force people to do things, for their own good or the good of others, we violate their right of self-determination. Libertarians respect the rights of others to choose their own path—that’s what liberty is all about. If community service is such a good deal, we should have no trouble persuading people to do it voluntarily. If we can’t convince others that our way is best, maybe we should humbly consider the possibility that it isn’t.”

Mary Ruwart (1949) American scientist and libertarian activist

Source: Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked, (2012), p. 199

“To choose this or that is to affirm at the same time the value of what we choose, because we can never choose evil. We always choose the good, and nothing can be good for us without being good for all.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

Existentialism and Human Emotions (1957)

“Books don’t have a nutritional value. Which is to say, we don’t just read "good" books because they’re good for us. We read to expand our horizons, to understand and connect with something outside ourselves, good and bad. We read to challenge ourselves…”

Mariko Tamaki (1975) Canadian writer and artist

On reading books that might be deemed inappropriate in “We Read To Challenge Ourselves: An Interview With Mariko Tamaki” https://comicsalliance.com/mariko-tamaki-pride-week-interview/ in Comics Alliance (2016 Jun 24)

“I’d also like to say to our priests: we can’t fail to talk to our people about these real sins that affect the lives of our people. If we talk about sins they don’t commit, of what good is that?”

Joseph Fred Naumann (1949) Catholic archbishop

Archbishop Naumann: “If the Church is silent on the destruction of life, we’re being negligent” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/12/04/archbishop-naumann-if-the-church-is-silent-on-the-destruction-of-life-were-being-negligent/ (December 4, 2017)

“We never choose which words to use, for as long as they mean what they mean to mean, we don’t care if they make sense or nonsense.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth