Every child,” said Amory, “should have an equal start. If his father can endow him with a good physique and his mother with some common sense in his early education, that should be his heritage. If the father can’t give him a good physique, if the mother has spent in chasing men the years in which she should have been preparing herself to educate her children, so much the worst for the child. He shouldn’t be artificially bolstered up with money, sent to these horrible tutoring schools, dragged through college …

This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald

Men rarely practise honesty, meaning that they often ask for ‘manipulation’.

There is always a price to pay in order to get to know someone.

Even a prince is not perfect.

“Life with a man is more business-like after it, and money matters work better. And then, you see, if you have rows, and he turns you out of doors, you can get the law to protect you… And if he bolts away from you—-I say it friendly, as woman to woman, for there’s never any knowing what a man mey do—-you’ll have the sticks o’ furniture, and won’t be looked upon as a theif.”

An excerpt from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

“Our first reaction to most of the statements which we hear from other people is immediate evaluation, or judgement, rather than an understanding of it… Very rarely do we permit ourselves to understand precisely what the meaning of his statement is to him.” -Carl Rogers

While reading, these sentences struck me as they reminded me of one unique incident.
Once I had allowed myself to judge someone entirely by one, single sentence uttered. It had ignited my anger, killed every possibility to get to know that person, and even clouded my eyes.
Later on, we happened to meet again when I was on a different course of life. It was a start of my new perspective on that person. I learned that I had wasted so much time that I could have spent on learning about one more person who had entered my life.
That first day, if I had ever tried to understand even a little bit, I would have realised how much trouble that person was facing. I regret.

I’m not trying to forget you but I’m trying to remember you gracefully.