Understanding

She had never understood either of the men she had loved and so she had lost them both. Now, she had a fumbling knowledge that, had she ever understood Ashley, she would never have loved him; had she ever understood Rhett, she would never have lost him.

Knowing the wrongs couldn’t alter them.

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.

"Why is it," he said, one time, at the subway entrance, "I feel I've known you so many years?"
"Because I like you," she said, "and I don't want anything from you. And because we know each other."

What you don’t understand you can make mean anything.

Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.

“Atticus, he was real nice..." <...>
"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

Fathers. Mothers. With all their caring and attention. They will fuck you up, every time.