Quotes from book
Bittersweet

Bittersweet

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER -- FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING In her inspiring new masterpiece, the author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet describes her powerful quest to understand how love, loss and sorrow make us whole - revealing the power of a bittersweet outlook on life. Bittersweetness is a tendency towards states of longing, poignancy and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired. If you seek out beauty in your everyday life . . . If you find comfort or inspiration in a rainy day . . . If you react intensely to music, art and nature . . . Then you probably identify with the bittersweet state of mind. With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she employs the same mix of research, storytelling and memoir to explore how embracing the bittersweetness at the heart of life is the true path to creativity and connection. Cain shows movingly how a bittersweet state of mind - though we've been blind to its value - is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain. It can change the way we live, the way we work and the way we love. If we realize that all humans know - or will know - loss and suffering, we can turn towards one another. At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways.


Susan Cain photo

“Being able to exist in a place where light and dark meet is actually not a recipe for unhappiness. It is a recipe for a deeper kind of happiness.”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Bastian, Jonathan (host). "Bittersweet: Susan Cain on the joy of sweet sorrow". KCRW.com (Los Angeles). May 21, 2022.

Susan Cain photo

“Our difficulty accepting impermanence is the heart of human suffering.”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Bittersweet, Chapter 8 at p. 181

Susan Cain photo

“How did a nation founded on so much heartache turn into a culture of normative smiles?”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Bittersweet, Chapter 5, title, at p. 117

Susan Cain photo
Susan Cain photo
Susan Cain photo

“Whatever pain you can't get rid of, make it your creative offering.”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Bittersweet, Chapter 3 at p. 56

Susan Cain photo
Susan Cain photo
Susan Cain photo

“Human beings are a meaning-making species.”

Susan Cain book Bittersweet

Walker, Suzy (interviewer). "The Big Happiness Interview: Susan Cain on how embracing sadness can make us happier", Metro, June 5, 2022.
Bittersweet

Susan Cain photo
Susan Cain photo

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