In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place.

Elizabeth Gilbert
About This Quote

We spend time with someone, often quite well, and then fall in love. But the only thing we really know about our partner is what’s on the surface. It’s easy to fall for what we see, not what’s really there. So when our relationship hits a rough patch, it can be hard to sort out whether or not that rough patch is actually us or someone else. We invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place.This quote makes an important point about how easily we allow ourselves to get caught up in stories about who our lovers are.

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

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